Starting over after failure
by WizardsWoman
Summary: Ranger starts over after Stephanie left. Will he be able to or will he loose the girl to a M/M. Ranger is not very nice to start. Def. A/U with O/C. Smut with the first sentence be warned.
1. Chapter 1

**Not mine all belong to JE except Christy and mistakes.**

Starting Over After Failure

Chapter 1

He rolled out of the bed, untied her wrist and ankles from the head and foot boards and then walked over to grab his pants. "Thanks for the fuck," he said.

"Look me up if you want another round sometime," she says back to him while still in the bed.

"Sorry, this was a one time only event. I will be moving on from you," he said coldly, finished dressing, grabbed the used condoms and left the hotel room.

A few nights later at a different cheap hotel room, a scene and conversation similar happened. "Thanks for the ride," he told her.

"Let's hook up again sometime," she replied to him.

"Nope, not going to happen," he returned while gathering the used condoms after he had dressed, then walked out the door without so much as a backwards glance.

The next day at Rangeman, Tank asked Ranger to go to lunch. "Sure, where are we going?" Ranger asked.

"Shorty's. We need to talk away from here," Tank answered.

They went down the stairs to the garage, then got in Tank's F-150. Once they left the garage, Tank asked Ranger how he was doing. "I am dealing," Ranger came back.

"Well the guys and I think you look like hell. When was the last time you had a decent nights sleep?" Tank questioned.

Ranger replied, "Not since she left."

"Why don't you go get her?" Tank asked.

"She does not want me. She changed teams," Ranger told him.

**Flashback 6 months earlier**

"Ranger we need to talk," Stephanie said to him.

"Sure we will talk after we finish," Ranger answered. He finished wiring her up for tonight's distraction, he did not care if they talked or not. All he wanted was between her legs and finish with her wrapped in his arms for the night. It has been two months since they were together last. The cop was away so she was not with him.

They finished the distraction, with the FTA on his way to the cop shop. Tank and Manny were delivering him, while Ranger guided his Babe to the Turbo. He removed her mic and made sure it was off, then he tried to pull her in for a kiss. She resisted him.

"Babe, what is wrong? I know the cop is not around," he said.

"Remember a couple months ago after the last distraction we had that huge fight?" He nodded and gestured for her to continue. "I stayed at that club for a while. I met someone." He went to speak. She motioned for him to stop. "I have already told Joe, now I am telling you," she continued.

"Who is he?" Ranger asked through gritted teeth.

"Not a he, they are a she. Her name is Kayla. I got a little drunk that night. I went home with her and then spent the next two days with her. It has been incredible. She is who I have been looking for. I told you before, in college I experimented with my sexuality. Now, I am trying again. Ranger, I have drawn to the conclusion I might enjoy being bi-sexual. She has brought out feelings in me that I have not had in a long time, it is refreshing at this point."

Ranger did not say anything, he could not at the moment. He got out of the car, rubbed his face with his hands and then ran his fingers through his long black hair. There were several thoughts that went through his mind. He had loved her like no other woman in his life. She was the only woman he had ever let in. Surely, this is some kind of sick joke. She could not be serious, could she? How could he compete with another and not a man but a woman? Really, how could this have happened to him? _I will not be able to go on, I cannot breathe without her, she is my world. _ He was not mad, he was furious and crushed above that. He was mad at himself, that he never pushed himself to have a relationship with her. Eventually after he calmed down and got himself under control he got back in the car he asked, "Do you love her?"

"I do not just love her, but I am _in_ love with her. I always thought I was in love with you, until I met her. Now I have come to realize like with Joe, I loved you, but I was not in love with you. My relationship with Joe was never going to go anywhere. He wanted me to be someone I am never going to be. In effect, he would be clipping my wings. The relationship I have with you has always been qualified by you. I felt you never really wanted to put yourself out there and try to see where it goes, and I am okay with that. Ranger, you are my mentor and best friend. A part of me will always love you," she said.

"Let me take you home, and I will be leaving Trenton," he told her.

"If it is because of what I have told you, don't. We are moving to California. I can live my life without the burg gossip and my mother's interference. We will be leaving this weekend on Sunday. Ranger, please be happy for me. I finally know what and who I want. You know with my decision I can fly but I cannot do that and stay here," she said and handed him his trackers and fob. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Babe, I will miss you and the guys will miss you," he replied.

They pulled in her parking lot. He walked her to the door. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him goodbye. There was no passion from her. He understood, she was no longer his Babe.

**End Flashback and return to present day**

"What do you mean she changed teams?" Tank asked.

Ranger told him what had happened six months earlier. "When she kissed me bye that night, it _was_ bye. She did not leave me with a hard-on like I normally get from her."

Tank asked him, "What have you been doing to deal with it, and don't bother with lying to me. I already know which cheap hotels your truck has been parked at."

Ranger admitted to having several one night stands. Tank was pissed at Ranger's behavior. The waitress came to bring the food they had ordered. Tank barked at Ranger to finish once the waitress had left.

Ranger was pissed that Tank was judging him, so he decided to answer him rather crudely. "At least when I am balls deep in a woman, I do not think about Stephanie. I can fuck her out of my mind for a bit. Maybe someday she will be gone for good."

Tank shook is head. "So you are basically substituting alcohol with sex. Man, take a few days off. Clear your head. You have some client meetings coming up next week along with some new client meetings. One on Monday and two on Wednesday. Get your act together, we deserve to have a leader that is focused."

Realistically he knew Tank was right even if it pissed him off. The men deserved a leader that was focused and not acting reckless, his company deserved that same consideration. Everybody had busted their asses to build that company and it should not be compromised by his actions. He thought about going to Miami, he could see Julie. They finished eating lunch, then Ranger looked at Tank and said, "Okay, put me offline until Monday."

When they went to pay their bill, there was a blonde woman about five foot four inches picking up a to go order. Ranger eyeballed the woman, could be tonight's lay he thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**If familiar not mine. Christy and others mine. Thank you MyMerryMen for your help. Thank you guest reviewers and everybody else. I appreciate it very much.**

Chapter 2

"Hi," Ranger said to the woman standing at the counter and flashed his 200 watt smile. "Need help getting that to your car?"

"No thank you, I am good," she replied looking tired. "Thanks Stella. See you next week," she said to the waitress and smiled at her.

"See you next week as usual, Christy," the waitress returned with a smile of her own.

He liked the name Christy. He and Tank walked out the door after paying the bill. Christy was getting in a new gray Ram 2500 with a six inch lift kit. It had custom graphics on the windshield, _'Bigger is better'_, on the side was magnets Maximum Auto Body and phone number. Ranger caught the number. He looked at the license plate 'SZEMTTRS' and laughed to himself . Someone at that body shop had an inferiority complex, if he translated that vanity plate correct, 'size matters'.

"Maybe I should call her," he said to Tank. Tank questioned him as to why .

"Somebody at that shop has an inferiority complex or they are compensating for some short comings," Ranger told him.

"Steer clear of that place for now. That shop is _your_ _Monday_ _appoint__ment__._ Your contact person is Max, probably her husband," Tank replied with emphasis on your Monday appointment.

"I promise I will leave that one alone," Ranger replied.

They headed back to Haywood. Once there Ranger went to seven. He packed a bag, but instead of going to Miami he would go to Point Pleasant. There was a safe house he had recently purchased on the beach. Tank was right, he did need to clear his head for a couple of days, he knew it, he was just too stubborn to admit it. When he was ready to leave, he stopped on five to see Lester.

"Can I use your car for a couple days. You can use the Turbo," he asked Lester.

"Why do you want to use my Mustang?" Lester asked. Time to share with his cousin.

"I am trying to clear my head of Stephanie. The Turbo was her favorite of my cars."

Lester replied, "Sure but if you wreck it, you bought it. I am sorry about you and Beautiful. I should have said something sooner but anytime you need to talk I will listen."

Ranger nodded and Lester threw him the keys.

"Keys to the turbo are in the center desk drawer of the desk in the office."

Ranger got in the car and took everything in. It was nice, black with silver trim, leather seats, GT and an automatic. Lester could be lazy, automatic, Ranger scoffed at that. He arrived at the safe house a short time later.

The medium sized single story house at the end of a cul-de-sac radiated a welcome cheerfulness with its yellow vinyl siding and white trims. This was a place to relax and clear your mind, no doubt. Parking the car in the garage, Ranger grabbed his bag and walked through the door that opened into an inviting kitchen. Tan was the color of choice here with a homey apple border going around the top of the walls. All the appliances were stainless steel, the counters were granite and the cabinets cherry. Ranger was sure that someone who would care would love this kitchen. Walking through the house he found the master bedroom and sat his bag down. With its light blue colored walls and white furniture the room exuded a calm and peace that would definitely help him to wind-down and focus on anything but Steph. Ranger was glad that he'd agreed to take some time off and come here. The tangy air coming in from the sea was refreshing and the beach the backyard opened to was inviting. All in all it was a serene place and he could definitely stay here for the weekend.

As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he needed the time away from Haywood, the Porsche, his life or at least anything that had been Stephanie related. In less than five minutes he was feeling better. There were no reminders of Stephanie in this house, no memories of her here either. She had never been here. He had a different place when he was with her, if he could even call it 'with her' now, and he had sold it shortly after she left. In turn, Mark Pardo owned this house.

As he walked around getting a feel for this new house, he decided it could use some paint. Then he could claim it for his own, and make new memories here. He dialed three on his speed dial. It rang once, twice, and then an answer.

"Tell me you did not wreck my car," Lester stated without a "Yo" first.

"No I did not wreck your damn car. Are you off this weekend?" Ranger said back.

"Yes, I am off. Why? Do you want your car instead or did you need something else?" Lester asked.

"Well, if I can get a word in, I went to Point Pleasant to the new house. I was thinking about painting in here. I thought I would get your help," Ranger told him.

"I will be up after my shift, I will drive your truck instead of the car," Lester replied.

"Bring pizza and beer. I will get the paint," Ranger said. There were two more bedrooms, so if Lester brought one of the other guys that would be fine.

Getting his wallet and the keys to the Mustang, Ranger left to buy the paint. He was trying to keep the rooms light and as Ella would say 'beachy'. For the master bedroom he got a sky blue. The second bedroom was going to be mint green and the third bedroom was to be pale yellow. In both bathrooms he went with white. While he was at the paint store he bought brushes, paint rollers, drop cloths, tape and other things he thought they might need.

About 1900 Lester showed up with a ladder, pizza and beer. At first, he had thought about bringing some of the other guys, but then he paused for a moment. If his cousin needed to talk, he didn't want any others around. It would already be hard enough for Ranger to open up. Sitting down to eat, Lester finally decided to bite the bullet and asked, "So tell me cuz, what is next for you?"

"I do not know. I left the government for Stephanie. Since she is out of the picture, my options are open again. I might see if the government wants me back, I could sign a new contract although I am enjoying not being tied to them. Plus, I am not a young man any more." Ranger looked down at his beer before taking another drag from the bottle. "I am going to have to seriously evaluate my position. I believe that part of me was ready to settle down, but a small part of me will never be able to. Without Stephanie, I am not sure which part will win, I am back to square one. I had let her in, now, I would have to find someone else to trust and finally let in."

Lester asked what had happened between him and her and Ranger told him the same thing he had told Tank earlier. When he was finished, he could have knocked Lester over with a feather. One of the few times Lester was speechless and that was not easily done, "Wow, I did not see that one coming," he finally spit out.

They ate and drank some more before either spoke again. Both were in shock maybe, Ranger at Lester being speechless and Lester for what he learned about Beautiful. He couldn't believe that his Beautiful had changed teams. Finally breaking the silence, he looked pensively at Ranger before voicing his opinion. "I would give myself some time before signing with the government. You could meet someone else. I know it is not easy, but it could happen. "

"I am not sure about that, I thought she was the one. I changed my life for her, and it was not enough. You know how most women look at us. One of two ways, either as a piece of meat or they are afraid of us," Ranger pondered quietly, causing Lester to listen closer. "At bars they are looking to hook up, at restaurants they are usually on a date. Through work we usually only see men or it is a husband and wife we are meeting. Church is out, the roof would fall in if we went there. It really does not leave many places. I met Steph through work, otherwise, I would have never known she existed."


	3. Chapter 3

**As usual any characters you know belong to Janet. Christy and others belong to me along with mistakes.  
A/N: It was decided to not to confuse of Amanda from my story 'Lester finds Love?' with this person. I change her name to Christy. Sorry for any confusion.  
Thank you MyMerryMen for your help, I will buy you a case of Maalox. I know I am a pain. Also, thank you guest for your reviews. **

Chapter 3

"I saw a woman today I would have asked out, but Tank talked me out of it. Apparently, I have a meeting with her employer on Monday," Ranger said.

"That is a good thing. You will know her status on Monday?" Lester replied.

Ranger went on to tell Lester about the truck and figured she was the owner's wife. Lester laughed and went on to say, "The guy must have some short comings." Ranger got tickled about the implications of what Lester was saying and soon joined in with full blown laughter.

_Dios, I needed a good laugh_ , Ranger thought. They spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing, finally Ranger admitted he felt better and more relaxed being away from Haywood and away from the memories.

A short time later, they went to their respective rooms. For the first time in months Ranger didn't feel trapped in his daily routine but looked forward to the next day. That night sleep found him easily and he slept good for the first time in months. His dreams this night for a change were not of a curly haired brunette that he lost. Waking up at 0500, he felt refreshed and rested; something he desperately needed. His outlook and attitude were brighter along with a sense that his head was clearer. After he took care of business he woke Lester so they could go on a run. They were going to run on the beach while they had it to themselves. Lester told him that he looked more relaxed then asked if he felt better this morning. Ranger told him that he did and that he would be interested to see how he would do once he returned to Haywood.

"Maybe I should move up here. Make my own memories here if Haywood is not cutting it after I return," he said. They finished the rest of the run in silence.

When they got back they each took a quick shower, dressed in old clothes and ate twigs and bark for breakfast. After they moved the furniture and put up the masking tape where needed they got started painting. With the both of them working at it the master bedroom did not take long. Around lunch time they were finished with the paint.

"Let's go grab some lunch while the paint dries," Ranger suggested.

Lester grabbed his keys and they took off in the Mustang. A few minutes later they arrived at the main part of town. A new little diner had recently opened and they decided to give it a try. When they pulled into the parking lot, Ranger perked up. Sitting on the lot with a trailer was a familiar silver Ram 2500 with custom graphics. Bigger is better.

"I do not know if she is here, but that is the truck Christy was driving yesterday," Ranger told Les. Ranger called Hal at the office, "Tell me what you get on a plate, SZEMTTRS."

Hal came back a moment later, "It is registered to Christy Maxwell."

Ranger asked, "Is there a male on the registration for the truck?"

Hal answered, "No sir, just her."

Ranger hung up_. Interesting,_ he thought.

There were ten tables in the whole place, the rest of the seating was at the counter or bar if you preferred. A soda machine and a pie case sat on the counter and in between them was a window to put orders through to the kitchen. Cups were neatly stacked by the soda machine and to the left of it was a huge stainless steel drum holding tea and a four pot coffee stand was beside the tea. The pie case was full, it had been stocked that morning for the lunch crowd and supper crowd that would come in later in the day. All of the decor was done in red, gold or white. The interior had the air of classic diner but still modern.

Ranger and Lester walked in the back of the diner to an empty table, as it happened it was beside Christy's table. Unfortunately, she was there with a man.

The waitress, Mary, took Ranger and Lester's order. After she turned in the order she walked over towards Christy. "You and Eric going to the auction this afternoon?" She asked.

Christy nodded absentmindedly as she and the man were looking at a list of cars at that local auction.

"Are you looking for something specific?" Mary wondered as she peeked over Christy's shoulder.

"There are a couple we are going to bid on."

"Well what are they?" Mary asked. Christy told her about the Cuda and the Charger. "I know you have a big place in Trenton," Mary said.

Christy nodded yes, "It is over four hundred acres, the shop is right there so I do not have to drive to work, it's nice. I have plenty of room for the garden and the animals."

"All of it is huge, the house, shop and farm," Eric added.

"When are you two going to settle down and get married?" Mary asked Eric.

"Ha! We are not going to. I asked her years ago, she said no," Eric informed her.

Ranger sat listening. He was certainly learning a lot of very interesting things.

Someone in the kitchen called out that the next order was ready and Mary brought Lester and Ranger their food.

Christy excused herself to go to the restroom, as she passed Mary, she whispered to her, "He can't handle me." Mary laughed.

Ranger heard her, he found out what he wanted to know. She was single.

Christy finished in the restroom and was heading back to the table when she noticed Ranger. He turned on his 200 watt smile. She gave her own 200 watt smile. "Hi, you are everywhere," she said to him.

"Hi, yeah I never saw you before yesterday. Now, I have seen you twice in as many days. I should probably introduce myself, Ranger Manoso."

"Christy Maxwell. This is Eric Stover," she told them as she pointed over to the man at the table.

Not to be left out Lester spoke, "Lester Santos."

"Nice to meet you Christy," Ranger said. "I believe I have an appointment with your company on Monday."

She cocked her head to the side thinking. "I think Rangeman Security is coming on Monday. I presume you own the company."

He confirmed, "Yes, I do along with Lester and two others. One you saw yesterday, Tank, and then there is Bobby."

She told him to ask for her when he got to her shop on Monday.

"I think my contact is Max," he said.

"I am Max. Maximum Auto Body is mine," she told him with a smile still in place.

Lester thought, _He is going to be impossible to live with this evening_. She has stoked his ego just enough.

"It was very nice to meet you both, but car auctions wait for no one," she spoke as she reached to shake Rangers hand. Instead he kissed the back of her hand.

Lester thought, yep big fucking pain in the ass, he likes her a lot, and she is into him. She turned to shake Lester's hand also, not to be outdone by Ranger, Lester kissed her hand as well.

Christy paid the bill along with Ranger and Lester's bill. She turned back to Ranger, "See you Monday at the latest."

Ranger couldn't stop the 200 Watt smile appearing on his face as he watched Christy leaving the diner. Seeing what was transpiring between them Lester knew he was royally fucked. No way in hell did he want to deal with Ranger's gloating. He'd be unbearable. Mentally squeezing his eyes shut and thumping his head against an invisible cinder block wall, Les prepared for what he knew was coming. _Damn _(thunk as Lester head mentally hits the wall.) _Damn_ (thunk) _damn_ (thunk) _damn_ (thunk).

Outside, Eric asked, "What the hell was all of that?"

Christy replied, "I saw him yesterday at Shorty's."

Eric was pissed, "I thought we were an item."

"Eric, that was a long time ago. We are nothing more than best friends. We happen to have had a past, that is where it needs to stay. We are not good together and you know that as well. In the relationship department, we suck. Now the business area we are unstoppable. Lets ride. Besides, what about Lisa?" Christy rebutted.

"Yeah, I know. I am just protective of you," Eric countered.

"Worry less about your boss and more about Lisa. I can take care of me. You really are my best friend," while she started the truck. He nodded that he knew. 

They arrived at the auction and registered to bid. Quickly they located the cars they were interested in. Both cars were looked over, both really needed a lot of work, but then again if they did not need work, they would not have been at this auction. Christy and Eric decided on how much they were willing to spend on each car.

Meanwhile back at the diner, Ranger and Lester went to pay their bill at the diner, only to find out Christy had paid it. Mary handed Ranger a note that was left for him. "Thank you Mary," he said as he opened the note.

_Ranger, I should not be too late at this auction. The cars I want are in the first thirty to go through. If you would like to meet later call me. Christy 609-555-1221 cell._

Ranger smiled. _Seemed tonight's lay is ensured,_ Ranger thought as he opened his phone. 


	4. Chapter 4

Not mine unless you do not know them. Thank you for all the reviews, it means a lot.

Chapter 4

Lester's POV

I read the note as Ranger did. Awe hell NO! Now I was mentally back to that cinder block wall to beat my head against it some more. I pinched the bridge of my nose knowing good and well we were done for the day, I could see it on Ranger's face. Now, Ranger was getting on that damn phone of his. Fuck! I was betting with myself he wanted her to be his next conquest. I knew his actions of late. Tank and I had talked after I had seen his truck twice at different cheap hotels while checking on a client's business and home. We had decided if he started costing Rangeman business we would have to step in and take control, we had worked too hard to let him destroy it.

I could over hear his part of the conversation, I thought I heard him give her the address to the house, so much for a safe house. Really, I guessed it may not be a problem. She did not strike me as an easy one. A woman for Ranger to pursue might be good for him, it would take his mind off of Stephanie. I decided I should reserve my opinion of her for later, after all I had just met her. She was pretty, beautiful blue eyes with flecks of hazel and not tall or thin, but she had nice curves in all the right places. Not his type at all, nor my type either but pretty none of the less. I would do her.

We stopped at the grocery store to get dinner before we went back to the house. I finally asked what she had said.

"She is stopping by the house on her way back home. The Cuda we heard her mention is drivable. She said she would call first," he finally replied as I drove.

"I guess I will need to clear out," I groused as I parked the car.

"No you do not. I am going to grill dinner. She said she will not be able to stay long," Ranger said as he got out.

Ranger's POV  
She had paid for our lunch. _That never happens. _I was surprised, even more surprised when Mary handed me that note. I did not realize Christy was at the counter that long. She was pretty but not really my type, I was not sure what my type was anymore. I thought Stephanie was my type. The women that I had randomly picked up reminded me of Steph, but none of those women had compared to Steph. Maybe someone totally not like Steph could and should be my type now. Different eyes, different hair, a different body; someone who had the potential of erasing my heartache over Stephanie's new life without me.

I knew I would love for her to be under me tonight, but there were three problems. One, Lester would be there, and I know my cousin and his mouth, he would report it to Tank. So, I am trying not to break my promise. The second, she said she did not have long to stay. What I liked to do and wanted to do to her would take a while, I liked to take my time especially when they were at my mercy and third, I had not determined if she was into my type of play. I really liked to go farther than just tying a woman up.

We stopped to get dinner for tonight before heading back to the house. When we got there I put the groceries up while being quizzed by Lester. He could be a baby sometimes. I soon realized after listening to him, it was Lester who had seen my truck at the hotels. Big mouth fucker.

We finished the touch up work that needed to be done in the master bedroom. It turned out really nice. After we got the drop cloths off of everything, we removed the masking tape and then put the furniture back in place. We left the window open after we were done to try to clear out the paint fumes. I started putting the pictures back on the walls and thought about what I wanted to add if anything. Some shelves might be nice or maybe later I will rearrange the furniture.

Christy called about 1730 to say she would be there in a few minutes. We heard the car before we ever saw it. When she pulled in the driveway, she asked for some cardboard. "The car has an oil leak and I did not want the oil to get on the driveway. Oh, in case you did not notice it also needs an exhaust system."

Lester chimed in, "So we heard."

She smiled and shut the car down, "Give my crew six months you will not recognize it."

It reminded me of Steph's Nova she had when I first met her but, this car was going to be transformed. The Nova, was always going to be a piece of shit.

I invited her in the house, "Excuse the mess, we are in the middle of painting."

As I showed her around, Lester went to start the grill. She told me she thought the place was pretty.

"Thanks for lunch today. Lester and I appreciate it."

As Lester walked back in the house, "Yes, thank you very much. It was a pleasant surprise."

She smiled at both of us, "You are very welcome. It was my pleasure."

We walked out on the deck. As she took everything in, "Man this is a gorgeous view. I love the ocean but I never come here to relax, I am usually here for the car auctions."

I asked her why she never came here to relax. "I am a workaholic," she replied. "I live and breathe that farm and shop," she added.

Lester pointed at me, "He is the same way with Rangeman. We made him take a couple days off."

As I put the steaks on the grill I argued just for orneriness sake, "And I am still not taking time off. I am working on this house."

Lester shook his head and went back in the house to fix the salads. "Do you need any help?" She asked me.

"You can stay here and talk to me while the steaks finish."

Her next question was a tough one, it brought up a bunch of painful memories, but of course it was not her fault, she had no way to know. "What made you buy this place?"

"I love the beach and the house I had held too many painful memories, so I sold it for a tidy profit and reinvested in this house. I hope to make new and better memories here." I left out that the other house had been the Batcave and was to be mine and Steph's home not just getaway spot.

As soon as the steaks were ready we ate. Christy told Lester and I dinner was awesome. The more we talked the more relaxed all three of us became. "What else do you do on your farm besides restore cars?" Lester asked.

"We drag race some, not like we used to, but now it is more for fun. The Cuda, will see the drag strip. The Charger will be a show car. At any rate, I try to live off the grid as much as possible. I raise all of my own meat for myself and a few of my guys. Also, I grow a huge garden and preserve as much as possible. We buy very little out of the grocery store. I barter with a friend for goat's milk, cheese and butter. Most of my staff live alone, so I try to make sure they eat well. I can soup and chili for some, others I make spaghetti instead of chili, I guess in many ways I am a mother hen to them. Since I am not as hands on as I used to be, it allows me to do other things. So what about you two, what do you do besides work for Rangeman and work on this house?" she finished.

At that moment I realized, I had no clue and what did that say about my life? _Sex was the only thing that came to mind and it was to erase the memory of Stephanie. Everything I do is geared towards Rangeman. All the running and exercising I do was not for just myself but, for Rangeman, the money from missions, were for Rangeman, anytime I went out it was usually, for Rangeman. SHIT!_ "I am a workaholic too. If it is not Rangeman related, I usually do not do it."

Lester's two cents was added, "I chase women or watch television. We really do not have much of a social life. I am actually the playboy of the group so a lot of my time is spent on the chasing women part."

Christy shook her head, "Maybe we should start a workaholic support group. There is supposed to be more to life. I try to do some fun stuff on the weekend, play on ATVs, drag race or something like that. For me, dressing up is a nice blouse, jeans and something other than work boots or tennis shoes. I very rarely go out even to dinner. Dating is a pain, so I rarely do that either. Staying at home is comfortable for me most of the time."

After we had finished dinner, Christy started clearing the table. She hand washed the few dishes we had and wiped down the counters. When she finished she thanked Lester and I for dinner. "I have to get that wreck down the road, if it will start," she said.

I walked her to the car, I had enjoyed her company and wanted more of it. She gave me a kiss on the cheek. I really hoped the car would not start. It did not let me down, it would only crank. She popped the hood and fiddled around with the engine. A battery cable was loose. She tightened it and tried to start it again. It would still not start. She called Eric to have him come back after he dropped the Charger at the shop. He did not answer, she only got his voice mail.


	5. Chapter 5

**Not mine except Christy and Eric. Thank you MyMerryMen. I know you gave up a lot of time on your own story to help me wade through this chapter.**

Chapter 5

Christy's POV

As I lay in the bed I looked back over the events of the day. The ones that had gotten me to this point where I was in a bed in Ranger's beach house.

I had wanted to see Ranger, and was thrilled when he called. On the way to the auction, I told Eric of my plans if both cars were drivable. I would drive the safer of the two vehicles to see Ranger. Eric would haul the other car back to the garage. When we arrived, we got registered to bid, then went out to the parking lot and checked the cars we wanted to bid on. We found that the Charger, would not stop, and everybody knew brakes were an important part of the driving process so it was out for the drive to Ranger's. I was disappointed that I would not be able to drive the Charger home, those models held a special place in my heart. For me, that car was love at first sight; I just knew I had to have it. I could see what this car could become in the right hands, at the end of the day, and I hoped those hands were mine. The Cuda, on the other hand was a little better, it would stop, but it needed an exhaust system, I could deal with noise, exhaust fumes and killing mosquitoes. As each car came across the auction block, we placed our bids and ended up winning both. With the Charger loaded, Eric was good to go. For the Cuda, I had my dealer plates, a bill of sale and a one way permit to allow me to get it back to Trenton on its own power, I was set.

Snuggling deeper into the covers, I thought back to when I finally arrived here. My plan had been to stay an hour and a half tops to visit and see if there was any potential relationship there. Never had I expected to stay here for the night.

At the moment, I was not sure if either man was my type. Hell, I had not had a type since my husband Alex was killed. Eric and I had hooked up a few times since but that was just a Best Friends with Benefits or BFWB depending on who you ask. Don't get me wrong, Eric was a fine looking man, six foot tall, muscular, sandy blonde hair, sexy gray eyes, and goatee just long enough to be soft and tickle all the right places. We had dated in high school and for a couple years after, we just could not get along. I had a few other men that worked for me, who were out of this world, but they did not interest me. I had a rule not to mix business with pleasure, Eric had been the exception. The two men in this house were hot. I knew I would never get any work done if they were around all the time.

When I asked Ranger what I could do to help, he wanted me to stay and talk to him. I couldn't get enough of his smile; it was beautiful, and don't get me started about his chocolate eyes they were something else too. Lester? Well Lester had dreamy green eyes and his smile was just as nice. While the steaks finished we talked and I learned a few interesting things about Ranger who had sparked my interest. Wanting to make new memories, hum, some woman had really hurt this man, and what a shame, I thought. Why, I wondered, I mean granted I had just met him, but, he had been nice thus far. Nothing that made me go running for the hills to get away from him. It just did not make sense. He seemed like the complete package. Well built, nice home, new cars, owned his own business, so what was the catch? 

The longer we talked at dinner the more relaxed I became. I proceeded to tell them how I became a female owner of an auto body shop; that Dad had wanted a boy, but got me instead. Luckily for him I shared his love of cars, and I enjoyed working on them. I was good at it, so I spent all my free time watching and learning from him. As a kid, it was a great way to spend time with dear ole dad. When he passed away, I inherited the company. It had grown from a two bay to a ten bay garage. There were a lot of great memories made in that original two bay garage I told them, smiling at the thoughts of my dad.

After dinner, I cleared the dishes from the table and washed them, something that had become a habit since I had been widowed. Plus, it gave me a few minutes to go over our dinner conversation and deem it as good. After I was finished, I walked back out on the deck and thanked Ranger and Lester for dinner and their hospitality. I had enjoyed the conversation and getting to know them better and wanted them to know that.

Ranger walked me to the car where I kissed him on the cheek, not really wanting to leave, but I needed to get the car home. Hopefully the Cuda would start, but it did not. Internally cursing, I checked the battery cables. One was loose but that was not the problem. Probably the starter, but I did not have a way to check it in the driveway.

"I will call Eric. He can come back after he finishes with the Charger," I told Ranger.

Eric's phone rang and finally went to voice mail, "Eric the Cuda won't start. I think it is the starter. Please bring my truck and trailer back. Call me," then I hung up.

Ranger put his arm around my waist and guided me back to the house. We went back to the deck. Lester was there drinking a beer. "I thought you were leaving?" He asked.

I glared at him. "I think for now, the Cuda and I are off mosquito duty, it won't start. I called Eric, so he can come back after he unloaded the Charger."

Lester spoke after he took a pull of his beer, "Since we have time to chat some more. Let me ask you a question." I gestured for him to finish. "Why do you have a plate that says size matters?"

I had to laugh. "Do I really need to explain that? I have only met three of the staff that works at Rangeman. All three of you are over six feet and are walking muscles. Let me ask you this, how do the other men look that work at Rangeman? Just as big or bigger? Intimidating, right?" Lester shook his head yes.

"I see," Lester replied.

I tried Eric again, "Call me," and hung up. I got the feeling he had already left and was out with Lisa. "Maybe I should call a cab and go to a hotel somewhere close, I doubt Eric is going to call back. Is it okay to leave the car here?" I asked.

"The car is fine here. I have an extra bedroom if you feel comfortable staying here," Ranger offered.

I felt safe, neither man appeared to be a mass murderer. Also, they seemed to be gentlemen enough not to try to force themselves on me. Nonetheless I would think long and hard before I accepted Ranger's offer.

About 10PM, Eric called, "What is wrong with the car?"

"It will crank but not start. By the way, where have you been?" I grouched.

"I am at the hospital with Lisa, she had a bad wreck this evening. She may be here a couple of days," he replied.

I told him to stay with her. I had a place to stay and I would try to get the car started in the morning. "Give her my love. I am glad she is going to be okay," I said before hanging up.

Eventually, I agreed to stay. There were a couple of things I needed, so I asked the men if either one of them had an extra t-shirt I could use to sleep in and I needed a toothbrush. Of course it was no problem. Lester gave me his blue shirt and Ranger got me everything to brush my teeth.

When Ranger asked what had happened, I told him and Lester about Lisa's wreck. Being a gentleman, he offered me a ride home if the car would not start in the morning, telling me I could come back later to get the car. After thanking him for everything, I gave him a kiss on the cheek which he accepted with a nod before leaving the room going towards the master bedroom.

I took a moment to ask Lester a very serious question. "Who hurt him?"

Lester shook his head, "I know if you ask him, he will not tell you, so I will tell you this much. Her name was Stephanie. She was his Babe, he lived for her and she left him. Any more he wants to tell you he can, but it is his story to tell, not mine."

While I knew it was a curt answer, it was enough. I understood Lester's situation, it was not his story to tell so I thanked him, told him I would not say anything, bid him good night and made my way to the bathroom.

The next morning, my eyes quickly opened when I realized I had an arm around my ribs, somebody's wood in my back and the rest of the body spooned into me. One thing I hated was when I went from fully asleep to wide awake with no gradual wake up process, it made for a really bad day complete with a headache usually, so today was not going to be pretty. Either the bed was comfortable or I was really tired, because I slept like the dead until sometime during the night I thought I felt the bed dip, but not enough to cause me to fully wake. After clearing the cobwebs of the night from my mind, I noticed the covers were weighted down on my back side. Whoever it was, was on top of them and that was good. When I tried to move I heard a sleepy voice mumble behind me.

"Please stay Babe."

"I need to get up," I replied.

"Please come back Babe."

I spoke softly, "Ranger I am not Babe, I cannot come back."

His eyes flew open when he realized what he said, "I am sorry."

I held up a finger, "Give me a moment, I gotta go," and darted to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and answered nature's call. What the hell is happening here, I thought. Calmly, I walked back to the bedroom and asked him to please finish.

"I am sorry, I should have not come in here. The paint fumes got to me. Lester was in the other bedroom and I do not fit on the couch. Again, I am so sorry, I should have woke you up and asked if it was okay," Ranger said with great discomfort.

"Not a problem," I spoke as I sat down on the bed beside where he was stretched out. After taking one of his hands in both of mine, I noticed my hands were so small beside his. "Who is Babe?" I asked while looking him squarely in the eyes.

He broke eye contact. She was the one who hurt him, just as Lester had said. Ranger looked back up, "Her name was Stephanie. She broke things off with me and moved to California. I also owe you an apology for calling you her nickname."

I told him it was okay, "She must have meant the world to you."

"She did, she was the only one I have ever let into my life," he confessed. "I hope my words did not hurt you. We were together for two years off and on before it ultimately ended."

"I understand, Alex and I were married for three years before he was killed. I could not stay in Virginia after he was gone, he was my other half, and after all this time, I have grown to realize that he will never be back. If I live to be a hundred, he will never be more than a memory, a good one, but a memory nevertheless. I can at least use Alex's memory for a guide to what I want in a man. My advise to you, use her memory as a guide, good or bad of what you want in a woman, so you can move on," with that I stood, I could not say any more without breaking down. My emotions were just too raw when it came to the love of my life.

Lester walked in the room, "Good morning Gorgeous." He gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Love the dress," then he smiled.

His shirt hung almost to my knees. I suspected he had been listening to what I said to Ranger, all he had to do was come near the open door, and that was fine with me. The stress I was feeling lessened when Lester walked in, I was relieved he was there. If he had been listening, he probably heard my voice starting to crack and knew I needed an escape. I left the room and went to the kitchen to make coffee. If they just knew what it had done to me, bearing my soul like that and talking about Alex. Coming down from an emotional high the first tendrils of doubt started to sprout. If Ranger was so hung up on Stephanie, if she was the only one he'd ever let in his life, how could I even think about a relationship with him. I knew I was a good woman, but I did not have the best track record when it came to men. I just hoped my words would help him move on. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Not mine except for Christy and the mistakes.**

Chapter 6

Lester's POV

I knew Ranger would not be able to stay in the bedroom. The paint fumes were too strong, it would have been worse if we had not had the windows open in there while we had worked. The fumes had drifted out into the other parts of the house as it was. My biggest surprise was when he went in Christy's room. I figured he would go to the couch or come in here.

Apparently, he had left the door ajar since I heard them talking. He called her Babe, twice, he was such an idiot. I could not believe what I heard. Involved or not, I was sure she would be hurt, it would be a blow to anybody. If there was a positive in all of that mess, it did let her know where his mind was. One thing was sure, if she was interested in him, she won't be now and probably never would. Ranger would have to pull off a miracle to get her to go out with him now. Since I have gotten to know her a little bit, I believe it could be an opening for me down the road, I kinda liked her especially after talking to her .

She left the room, when she came back to the bedroom, he started apologizing to her again. She asked about Beautiful, surprisingly he told her about Stephanie, and likewise she told him about Alex. She knew her situation and understood Ranger's. Her husband was dead. Ranger stood a very remote chance that Stephanie would return. Christy had zero chance that her husband would ever come back. Unfortunately, she was forced to go through life alone for a while but for the last few months she had become ready to move on. Both of them could remain where they were and never move forward or come to grips with where they were in life and try to find someone else. From what she said last night she was finally looking just not finding, then here this morning, she was trying to encourage him. But will he listen? My heart was breaking for her. I could hear her voice starting to crack, she was on the verge of losing it. She needed to be bailed out so I walked in the room intending on breaking the tension. Christy looked relieved and took the opportunity to exit.

As she left the room, I commented, "Good morning Gorgeous," and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Love the dress."

By this time Ranger was sitting up in bed with his knees drawn up, and he had his arms stretched out over his knees. I asked him how he was.

"Good except for embarrassing the shit out of myself. I am such an ass," he lowered his head and put the heels of his hands on his forehead before continuing. "The paint fumes got the best of me, so I left the room, I got in the bed with her, well I was on top of the covers at least. In addition, I had her wrapped up the way I used to do Stephanie, and then to make matters even worse, I called her Babe. If I wanted a possible date with her, I fucked up to the point I doubt it will happen."

Yeah, actually he was, but he did not need to hear it right now, instead I told him he was not an ass, that his heart and mind were still with Stephanie. "I heard what she told you , she is right, it is time to move on. You do not need to wait on Steph any longer."

"I am going for a run," he said as he went to the master bedroom to get dressed. He needed to process what he had done and heard and running was his usual place to think. Ranger needed to spend time with her, she would be very good for him in my opinion.

I walked in the kitchen where Christy was making coffee and had started cooking breakfast. "Thank you for talking to him. I know you have had a tough time over the last couple years."

She turned to look at me, and was crying. "You have no idea how raw I feel at the moment. He is really hurting. I hope he can move on, he needs to. Like I said last night I can never find anybody. Men avoid me because I own the shop or they are interested until they learn I know what I am doing. I know what he is going through. This morning, if he had called me something other than her pet name I would have laid there and not gotten up. I knew he was asleep enough that it was a reflex but the word still stung. It really does not matter, it would never work out with either one of you, my track record sucks with men. I guess I am having some doubts about myself right now, sorry ."

I grabbed her and pulled her to me. "Please never doubt yourself. There is another person out there for you. The lunkhead that was in your bed this morning would be lucky to have you. I have learned over the last little bit you deserve a good man. He is good, albeit, he has his head up his ass a lot when it comes to women, of course I am better," he waggled his eyebrows at her.

She smiled mournfully, "I think he is a good man. Why couldn't he have called me sugar or something? You know it feels great to be held in someone's arms while you sleep, I have not had that feeling since Alex. Apparently, I was enjoying that in my sleep last night. I did not wake up enough to realize Ranger was there. Geez, what is wrong with me?"

She pointed for me to sit, and brought me a plate of bacon, eggs, toast, honey and a cup of coffee.

"Maybe I should leave before he comes back if I can get the car to start."

"No, I have an idea, what is on your schedule after your meeting with him in the morning?"

"Probably come up here to get the car if it won't start."

"Good ask him to come with you. It will give both of you time together. He can help you get it loaded."

Ranger walked in, "Load what?"

"The car. Would you be available after your appointment tomorrow to help her with it?" I proposed.

"Per Tank, that is all I have. I will come with you if you want," he said while looking at Christy smiling.

I could tell he had been thinking, good.

Ranger's POV

I needed the run. It gave me a chance to think about what happened with Christy this morning. I fucked up, I knew it was automatic, me calling her Babe. I called Stephanie that from the time I met her. Still it had to sting, one thing I did not want to do was cause her any pain she had had enough. She made a lot of excellent points. I have no idea how she has dealt with the death of a spouse, I am not sure how I would have dealt. After what all she said this morning, I changed my mind. She will not be a random hook up, nor will she ever endure my sick sexual side unless she is into that and agrees, but I doubt that she is. She does not strike me as the type.

In her chosen profession she does not have it easy. It is a predominately man's world. I had heard of her business, and knew the quality of work they put out, but I did not know it was Christy that owned it, I had to admire her for it.

Could we be good for each other? I always told Stephanie my life did not lend itself to relationships. Why did I tell her that? Was there a point in dwelling on it now? My telling her no to a relationship, did that drive her to another? I needed to figure this out before I went any further, and learn how to do things differently. Did my dark, damned soul deserve another possible light? Why the fuck did I have to call her Babe? I had a million questions running through my mind right now. Part of them were now of a short, blonde haired, blue eyed woman that I wanted to know better.

I knew she had not left, all of Point Pleasant would have heard the car start, if it would start. It would probably be better if she came and got it tomorrow. As I came up the street I saw she was not gone, good, I was relieved. I walked in the house and heard a comment about loading something. "Load what?" I asked.

"The car." Lester went on, but I stopped listening, I knew I was going to agree. I wanted a chance to talk to her, spend more time with her, maybe ask her out on a date, and try to move on like everybody kept suggesting . Coming back to the present, I replied that Tank had me off after my meeting with her and agreed to come with her to help, all while looking and smiling at Christy. I just hoped now that not all chances were gone. Thank goodness for that car.

RCRCRCRCRCRCRCRCRC

"Are you going to paint any today?" Christy asked.

"I think we are going to chill before heading back," Ranger replied.

"Would either one of you or both of you like to go for a walk on the beach with me?" Christy proposed.

"I will go with you," Ranger said.

"I am going to take a shower and pack my gear," came from Lester.

"Please stay until we get back," Christy asked of him.

"I will be waiting." Lester kissed her on the top of her head.

They walked down to the beach. Christy took her shoes off for their walk. Ranger told her she could leave them on the steps rather than carry them, so she did. As they walked leisurely, Christy was looking at the ocean and at Ranger. "What are you thinking about?" Ranger quizzed.

"How peaceful it is here and I would love to be able to stay longer. Like I said yesterday, I never come here to relax. Last night was one of the best night's sleep I have had in months. It was nice to be in somebody's arms, even if it wasn't meant for me," her voice quivered as she was failing to hold back tears.

"Come here." She did as he asked. "I am sorry to have hurt you. If it is any consolation, I knew it was you when I came in there last night and I slept well after I came to you," he continued to hold her. She made no attempt to move or reply, the words would have not come out.

While he was holding her, he closed his eyes and felt her body against his. _She does not need my worthless hide. She deserves a lot better and after the fiasco of this morning would she still be interested? No, she was not Babe, never would be. Her body was different, her personality, too. She was a world away from Babe, but she felt sweet in my arms and against my body. Will she give me a chance?_

He kissed the top of her head, "MMMM Sweetness, we should probably head back. Lester is probably waiting on us." He wrapped his arm around her as they walked back.

Lester was waiting on the deck. As he watched them on the beach, he saw Ranger pull Christy to him. When they were returning he noticed Ranger had his arm around her and he was glad to see that. _They made a nice couple._ He guessed maybe Ranger still stood a chance with her and what bad news that was for him. When they came up the steps Lester looked at her, "Christy, how was your walk?"

"Wonderful, I need to come here more often. This is the first time I have taken any time to relax here. You should have come with us."

Ranger asked Lester if he was leaving. Lester told him he was and wanted to know if he needed anything.

"When you get back to Rangeman, tell Tank I will not be at the morning meeting. I am going straight from here to my appointment."

Lester responded with a "Copy that. Christy, are you ready to go? I will take you home."

"She is staying here with me tonight." Ranger informed him.

Christy looked surprised, "I need to make a couple calls first, I will be right back." She left the room.

"Ranger, what the hell are you doing?" Lester snapped.

"I am trying to move on, it is time. She is trying to move on after the death of her husband, and a woman dumped me. It is time to see that there is more to life, I held her in my arms on the beach. She felt sweet there, I want her there again," Ranger finished.

Lester shook his head, "I hope you know what you are doing." The whole time he was smiling to himself.

Christy came back, "Eric is going to take care of the animals, he will also be at the shop in the morning. The hospital sent Lisa home, she was fine today. So, we do not need to be at the shop until time for you appointment."

"Okay, it is settled, you are staying with me," Ranger confirmed.

They said goodbye to Lester and he left.

Christy pointed out that she needed some clean clothes to wear. Ranger picked up his keys, then drove them to the boardwalk. She found a couple t-shirts, both had Point Pleasant on them and had gulls and sailboats in the background. In addition to the shirts she got a couple pairs of shorts, black pair and a tan pair. Over in the last shop, she spied a bathing suit. "Do you want to splash around in the water this afternoon?" she asked.

"Sure, we can," he responded.

"Good, I am going to get this," she held up a black tankini.

He smiled, he wanted to see her in that.

They decided to stop at the grocery store on the way back to get shampoo and such along with dinner for tonight. When they arrived back at the house they carried in all of their purchases. Ranger put up the groceries while Christy went to the bathroom with her toiletries. She dressed in her new bathing suit, she also stopped in the bedroom to grab Lester shirt. Lester had left a note for her on the bed.

_Gorgeous, Please take care of him. I believe you will be good for each other. See you soon. Call me if you need me. Love, Lester 609-555-3595_

She slipped the note in her purse. "Ranger are you ready to go?" she did not know where he was, but found him on the deck.

"Do you have towels?" he asked. She turned around to go back and get them.

He sent Lester a quick text. _"Thnx 4 not staying."_

Lester sent an instant reply, _"U R Welcome. _ _She's good 4 U."_


	7. Chapter 7

**Not mine except for Christy and mistakes. Thank you MyMerryMen for your help and challenging me otherwise it would never be.**

Chapter 7 

Ranger and Christy went down the steps and on to the beach. Christy left her sandals and the towels on the steps and stripped off Lester's shirt.

"See something you like?"

Ranger gave her his 200 watt smile. He laid his phone down and covered it with the towel then swept her off of her feet carrying her bridal style towards the water.

"No better time than now to get that suit wet."

Running into the water with her, he ducked under the surface and took her with him. When they came back up, he was laughing with her. It felt natural to him.

While standing with her hands on her hips, Christy shook the water out of her ears. "That was not nice ya know."

"Who ever said I was nice?"

"Lester."

He laughed at that, "What does Lester know?"

She splashed him, and he dunked her. When she came back up, he pulled her to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Once secure, he grabbed her legs to wrap them around his waist. She figured out quickly what was happening and beat him to it. After she was where he wanted her, he kissed her softly on the lips. She nuzzled his neck kissing him up and down, and noticed the taste of the salty ocean on him. Feeling himself getting aroused as a result of her touch he moaned.

His desire for her was different from the one night stands and different from Stephanie. She sparked her own flame in him, made her own impressions, replacing some of Stephanie's.

She loved being in his arms and wrapped around his body. There were differences between Ranger and Alex. One being physical and not just the feel of his erection between them, Ranger was more muscular than Alex ever dreamed of being. Another difference was emotional, Alex was open, the man before her was not. She felt the electric coming off of Ranger, if he let her in, it would be for life. For the moment she would take what he was willing to give.

Before getting out of his arms to play more in the water, she kissed up and down his neck, liking his taste in her mouth. They splashed and dunked each other more while enjoying the refreshing coolness of the water. After they decided they had had enough, he asked her to wrap her arms and legs back around him and started walking towards the shore. Once on the shore she tried to get down.

"Please stay in my arms."

She stayed, when he made it to the steps, he sat her down. They got the towels and dried off what water was left.

He gently patted her back drying it of. "Did you enjoy the water?"

"Yes, very much so, I had a blast. Did you have fun?"

"Yes, I had a lot of fun with you, it was a blast."

Christy's POV

After drying me off, Ranger sat down on the steps and looked up and down the beach, taking in his surroundings. He asked me to come over and sit. As I went to sit beside him, he guided me to straddle his lap.

Oh, boy.

I thought this was moving way too fast. I could feel his erection against me. Lester should have warned me, Ranger kept a python in there. My hormones needed to settle down, the last time I had sex was over a year ago with Eric. It would not take much for me to down him right here.

Ranger was watching my face, "What are you thinking about?"

"Many things really. How my life has changed, the fun I have had the last couple days and you. I know nothing about you really."

"What do you want to know? I will try to answer, unless it is classified."

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"I have four sisters and one brother. How many siblings do you have?"

"None, my parents got it right the first time. What is your full name? I hope your parents did not name you Ranger."

He laughed at my comment, "No, they did not name me that. I was a Ranger in the Army. My name is Ricardo Carlos Manoso. What is your full name?"

"Christina Lauren Maxwell-Adkins. How about your heritage?"

"I am second-generation Cuban-American. Yours?"

"Maxwell is Scottish as to when my ancestors came to America, I do not know. Last question, what do you want from life?"

"I do not know. I have always been a workaholic, my life never had been geared to have a relationship. Now, unless I accept the renewal of my contract, I am done with the government, so my life will allow me to have someone and I want that. For a long time I thought it would be Stephanie, but she changed and no longer wanted me. I guess my options are wide open, I had considered resigning with the government but I think I will wait a while longer. Your turn."

I thought for a minute, "I guess I am like my dad. He always worked his ass off to take care of mom and I, taught me to work on and appreciate cars. I usually work fifteen to sixteen hours per day between the shop and the farm. Before I backed off, I worked twenty hours a day, I went on four hours of sleep a night. I forced myself, with the insistence of Eric, to slow down. Size matters, has a dual meaning, I totaled a truck identical to the one I have now. IF, I had been in anything smaller we would not be talking now. Between the truck and me being asleep, I was not seriously hurt or killed. I will show you a picture of the truck sometime, there was not much left of it. It was a wake up call. When Alex died, I missed him, I longed for him, and I eventually buried myself in my work. I tried not to think about being alone or lonely, I had the guys so I was not alone. Eric asked me one night when I was going to start dating. I did not have an answer, but I started looking. It did not work, as I have said before a woman who knows about cars puts a big hurt to a man's ego. At some point I would tell them, and we would be over, they would stop calling. I know I have not given you an answer. What I want is simple, I want someone to spend time with, who loves me and is not intimidated by my business. Eventually, I would like to have a permanent relationship, with or without marriage. Before you ask about kids, kids are not something that I want, I have never had the desire for them, but I could be persuaded to change my mind. For now, they are great as long as they belong to someone else."

When he did not reply, I moved to get up, but he pulled me back in his lap and kissed me before finally letting me go. I guessed I must have said something he wanted to hear. He could kiss I gave him that.

We walked back to the house, I told him on the way I was going to go shower.

I got showered, dressed and went to the kitchen. "Need help?"

"It is covered."

"I can keep an eye on the food if you want to grab a shower. I feel like a new woman."

"Okay."

I knew something was off, but I could not put my finger on it. In light of how open he had been on the beach and the short answers and the tone of voice I received from him now it was quite evident. I decided the best course of action was to send Lester a text, he knew him better than me.

_He is acting moody._

_What happened?_

_I was sitting n his lap, we talked, asked him questions, he did the same._

_Nothing is wrong, he is thinking, thats him. U r fine._

Ranger came back as I was taking the chicken out of the oven. The veggies were also done, we were ready to eat. We fixed our plates and went out on the deck to eat. It was a beautiful evening. During dinner we talked about the food and how good the showers felt, just your basic idle chit chat.

This man has some real potential, sexy, can kiss, cooks, gifted in other important areas, and hot. Did I mention sexy?

Ranger's POV

We had fun in the water. No pressure. She was interested in me, Lester told me that much. I think he was trying to play matchmaker. I wanted to talk to her, learn about her, besides what Rangeman had pulled up on paper I did not know much.

"Come sit with me."

When she went to sit beside me, I guided her to straddle me, I wanted her to know she had an affect on me. Nice, I liked her being there, plus now she knew how much my body reacted to her presence and there would be no surprises later.

I let her ask questions of me, answered, and then wanted to learn the same information from her. An only child surprised me a little, but it should not have. Her appreciation and ability of working cars should have told me. Way to pay attention to details Manoso. She was funny and I would expect quick witted.

Another time she showed her humor, she asked my full name and questioned if my parents had named me Ranger. I clarified that they had not and it was a moniker from the Army. She had a beautiful name. Christina Lauren Maxwell-Adkins.

Her questions were easy until she asked what I wanted out of life, that was tricky. Stephanie had been what I had thought I wanted, now maybe not. I do want someone, always before my life had not been one to allow relationships, but that had changed. I asked her what she wanted. She bared her soul. The last few years had been hard on her, she actually worked more than me. I got a lot more info on the true meaning behind the vanity plate on the truck. It would seem she does take her safety more seriously since the wreck. On paper, Christy is worth twenty million dollars, that was more than me. She was in a tough field and making serious money, her business was worth ten million. Part of her money came from Alex's death, she had sold some property in another state, along with a body shop she operated there for a tidy profit. When she came here and acquired property, she bought well, it was paid for in full.

I had a lot to think about, I do not take relationships lightly. When we went back to the house she took a shower, while I worked on dinner. After she finished she came into the kitchen and offered to watch dinner while I showered.

I knew she had talked to Lester, he sent me a text. She was afraid I was upset with her, he reassured her I was just thinking. He was right, I was thinking, thinking I wanted a relationship with her.

While I was in the shower, I thought about what had happened today. I freely answered her questions, I had not done that before. Of course Steph knew about my siblings and obviously my full name, but I never told her other things that I could and should have. My communications skills with women sucked. I needed to try to not make the same mistakes I made with Stephanie. There should be a new book opened, the Christy Maxwell book and close the Stephanie Plum book. This time, I would be open from the beginning.

We finished dinner, she said she would do the dishes since I had cooked. Damn, should have used paper plates, less mess, it would not take long. While she was at the sink, I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her. I moved close to her but left enough room for her to continue working, trying to be romantic, I kissed and nuzzled her neck without being pushy. Smiling at the gesture, she closed the tiniest bit of a gap there was between us.

Christy finished the dishes and wiped the counters down, I had to let go while she finished that.

"Would you like to go for an evening walk on the beach, we could go the other way?"

A broad smile crossed her face, "Sounds nice."

When we walked to the beach, she left her sandals on the steps again. This end of the beach was very private on Sunday evenings. I had no intention of sex with her this evening, but I would not complain if it did happen, I was prepared.

I held her hand as we walked, her hands were so tiny in my massive ones. Wonder if she would be available next weekend, we can come up here anytime she wants. We walked in silence just looking around at our surroundings. I noticed she was watching the gulls. After we had walked a mile down the beach, we turned around. At that time she took the opportunity to stretch up and kiss me, I gladly met her halfway. When we desperately needed air we broke apart, damn she can kiss. I gave her another kiss before we started our walk back, again walking in silence.

Her beautiful voice broke the silence, "It is so peaceful listening to the waves crash and the gulls."

"You are right it is peaceful. Would you like to sit on the steps for a little while?"

"Oh, that sounds so wonderful, will you stay?"

"I had every intention of staying with you."

"Good, you make a pretty nice chair."

I thought about that for a minute, then adjusted myself. She must have liked sitting in my lap, I knew I liked her being there. When we got back to the steps, I sat down, and she straddled my body again. She was going to think I kept a hard on all the time. I do not know what else I expected, the thought of her in my lap, done something for me. Admitting only to myself, her in my lap with my dick buried in her had its appeal too. She was in my lap and laying against my chest with her face nuzzled in my neck. I will not push her and be happy at the moment with what I have.

I slowly rubbed her back while talking to her in Spanish. "I am sorry you have had so much pain in your life, and so much loss with losing your father and your husband so close together. I hope I can be the man you deserve. Fate brought us together, I wish I could take away your pain. Maybe I can make you smile and laugh more, you need and deserve both. You do not know how precious you have already become to me. Are you a light for me? We shall see." I heard her breathing change and knew she had gone to sleep. I got her sandals and carried her to the house. I reached under her shirt and unfastened her bra, but left it on her. Gently I put her in her bed.

I went to my bathroom to brush my teeth and take a leek. Afterwards, I changed clothes and went back to check on Christy. She must have woke up, her bra and shorts were on the floor. I turned off the table lamp and lay down beside her on top of the covers. We made our way towards each other. I wrapped my arm around her and let sleep take me.

I woke a short time later, cold and feeling like I was being watched.

Christy was watching me, "You are cold, get under the covers."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure."

I did as offered, we snuggled back together. The next time I woke Christy was trying to get up. I tightened my arm around her. She called me Carlos, which was enough to wake me up, I heard her say something about the bathroom.

"Come back soon Precious." The nickname fit her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Not mine. Except for Christy. ** **As usual big thanks to MyMerryMen for pointing out the error of my ways. **

Chapter 8

Christy's POV

Our stroll last night was wonderful, I enjoyed the walking hand in hand, and not to mention the kissing. Geez, the man can kiss me and I forget my name. The sounds of the ocean and Carlos talking to me in Spanish relaxed me and I was out like a light. My Spanish was rusty but I remembered a few of the words he said. I understood father, husband and loss, then I caught fate brought us together, followed by Precious and wondering if I was a light for him.

He had undone my bra, but left it on. I woke when I heard him leave and had stripped out of my bra and shorts. I preferred to sleep with nothing on, but this was not the place for that. Soon, I hoped that would change.

I found my way back onto the bed and returned to my sleeping position. A short while later, an arm came around me and then pulled me to his warm, hard chest. I could get used to this fast. Damn, a little too early to ask him to move in to my place, I thought. Quickly, I let sleep take me.

I woke some time later and watched Carlos sleeping. His arm and body was cold.

"You could get under the covers."

He did and snuggled back to me. At some point during the night I needed to go to the bathroom, but he did not want to let me go.

"Carlos, I need to go. I will be right back." It woke him enough for him to respond.

My next waking realization was morning wood in my back, soft kisses and fingers lightly running up and down my arm.

"Good morning Precious," his voice low and husky from sleep.

"Good morning Carlos."

"I like you calling me Carlos, how did you know to call me that? I know I did not ask you to."

"I liked the sound of it better than Ricardo or Ranger."

"When we are alone, please call me Carlos. Ricardo is my father's name, and Ranger is my street name and we are obviously not on the street right now. All of my family calls me Carlos."

I had to laugh, "It is probably a good thing we are not on the street since we are in bed. I will call you Carlos, I like it better anyway."

"We need to get out of this bed before we go too far."

"About that, would you be available for more snuggle time this evening after we finish with the Cuda?"

He flashed his 200 watt smile, "I believe something can be worked out, right now we both have a business meeting we need to get to."

As we got ready to leave, I gathered my clothes to take them with me. "Leave them, my house keeper will wash and bring them back here. You will have them for the next time you are here."

"Are you sure, I do not want to make more work on her."

"It is not a problem."

YES, he wants me to come here again. I smiled to myself and did a mental happy dance. We arrived at my shop at 10AM, Eric met us in the office.

"Eric, you remember Ranger."

Eric and Ranger shook hand and bid morning to each other. The three of us walked around the shop. I showed Ranger the other garage and finally the house. Ranger took notes on my concerns and pointed out a couple other areas where a camera might be warranted. One was on the door leading to the pool and hot tub. My concern was somebody watching me in various states of undress.

"Do you wear a robe to and from the hot tub?"

"Yes, I do."

"We can make that camera stationary, it would stay on the door all the time. If you like we can also provide a fob to allow you to scramble that camera if you want total privacy. It is up to you."

"I like what you have suggested. Do you need to figure up the cost or do you already know how much?"

"I will figure it up later. You house is beautiful, I love it. Especially this basement."

"It seems to be everybody's favorite hang out spot. There is another room off of this one. We use it for storage, but it could be made into a home gym easily enough. I have not taken the time to make it happen."

I showed him the room. There was shelving lining two of the walls.

"I think there is enough room. There is a bath room and another storage room. We keep the extra canned food in there," pointing on down the wall to the other two doors.

"I have everything I need," he laid his paperwork down and turned back to me.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer for a kiss, it was long and deep. Naturally, I could not remember my name. I wondered how he would fit in my life. Would he like my lifestyle? I spend a lot of time on this farm, it was important to me.

Ranger's POV

Christy had a beautiful farm. The main garage that housed the body shop was ten bays and was the newest of the buildings. About a hundred feet from that garage stood the original garage, she used it to store the cars for sale as well as her personal collection. All were beautiful and completely restored or made into street rods. I would hate to have to guess the value of the cars in that garage alone.

We walked to the brick and vinyl sided house she called home. Except for the two German Shepherds the house had no security. For most people the dogs would be enough. I am not most people. As we made our way around the house, I listened to what she wanted and made some suggestions. She accepted them.

We entered the house, when we stepped through the front door we were standing in the living room. I took the room in, seeing rustic timbers in the ceiling and a cedar contrast wall. The other walls were painted a light tan with darker tan for the carpeting. At first glance, I noticed the room was very open, the kitchen and dining room were just off to the right of the living room, both equally open. The kitchen was state of the art. Mahogany cabinets, granite counter tops, and stainless steel appliances. There was a door beside the stove that lead to a three car garage.

The dining room had a huge picnic table made out of rough sawed lumber and then stained. We moved down the hallway to the end of the house where the bedrooms were located, the spare rooms were of nice size and had queen sized beds in each a second bathroom separated those rooms. She showed me the master bedroom. It was a larger sized room, it looked to be a twenty by twenty five or five hundred square feet. She had a king size bed with a black comforter. Shame there was only one person in that bed. The walls were painted a soft rose color with a darker red contrast wall. Christy lead me to the master bath, it had a sunken whirlpool tub with a separate shower. The shower was over-sized, three people could have fit in there, it will be a great place for fun later on. I could show her how good I really am in the shower.

I loved the basement, I could envision me chasing her around in there before catching and making love to her on the sofa, the floor, or kitchen counter or hell all three areas. Damn, that was getting me hard, okay think of Joyce Barnhardt naked, well that is taken care of. Joyce could kill a hard on for me.

The basement was the family room, her work family hung there. It was also equipped with a kitchen, from the looks of it, that was where she did most of the canning. I liked her off-grid style. Our lifestyles were different but the cores of both were the same. Mine was health and well being through diet and exercise, her's was geared through diet. The work her crew does involved a lot of stooping, bending and lifting repetitively. It appeared she never stopped, I do leave work at the end of the day. I worked twelve hours a day, she was doing fifteen to sixteen. She liked to know where her food came from, I did not think about it.

There was a pool and hot tub outside the basement door. Does she ever use it I wondered, I bet her employees do and she does not.

After she showed me the room she thought could be made into a fitness room and the remaining two rooms, I wanted to hold her for a minute and to kiss her. My assessment was done, I just needed to work some numbers. I was not going to charge her anything for the house, I planned on being there some, so it was as much for my protection as hers. Okay, I was hoping to be here a lot.

"Do you need to do anything before we leave to get the car?"

"I need to go to the office for a few minutes. Is there anything you need to do?"

"I have a few things to do at the shop. Do you want to come back when you are finished?"

I nodded yes and gave her another kiss. Ten minutes later, I arrived at Rangeman thanks to light traffic. After I stepped off the elevator on five and went to my office and shut the door behind me. About ten minutes later, I heard a knock at my door. Right on time, it will be Santos and his barrage of questions. "Enter." When the door opened, I knew I had gotten it in one.

Lester's POV

I saw Ranger come in, he looked more relaxed and he was smiling.

Cal and Manny knew I had been with Ranger over the weekend, "Did Wifey come back?"

"Nope, he found another woman."

"She can't be as good as Wifey."

"No, she is better. I was with them part of the weekend and have already received a text from Gorgeous. "When I left them yesterday, he was relaxed and smiling like that and they only talked."

Cal raised an eyebrow, "And you know this how?"

"I asked her, she is nothing like Beautiful. She is strong and has made her own way, she will be perfect for him to pursue."

I saw him go in his office and close the door, I decided I would go over there in a few minutes. After I finished up doing something close to nothing, I walked to his office. For a change, I knocked on the door, rather than barging in, surprising I know. I heard, "Enter," then went in.

"Did she get the car started?"

He shook his head no. I would have to be more creative with my questions, head shaking answers won't cut it.

This time I felt smug, "How did the estimate go?"

"The same as any other estimate on any other day."

Damn, that did not work, I came up with the ticket, "What is her place like?"

"Nice, big, and pretty. Santos do you want something in particular or are you trying to go to the mats?"

"I would have thought after a nice weekend with me and a beautiful blonde you would be nicer to me. Exccuuse me," I turned to leave.

"I will be out of the office the rest of the day after I finish this paperwork."

I nodded. Yeah he had a good weekend and did not want it to end. I hoped he did not make the same mistakes with Christy as he had done with Beautiful. If he did, I would claim that one, I fell in love with her fast and hard this past weekend.

Tank's POV

I knew Ranger had a meeting with Maximum Auto Body, I hoped he did not blow it. He was in his office with the door closed. Yep, like clockwork, there went Santos, good thing for Lester he was related to Ranger. I heard him ask Ranger about his weekend, damn Ranger had another woman again. Lester was bombarding him with questions and getting such general answers, I had to chuckle. I knew why we never had him interrogate anyone, why he even tried with Ranger was beyond me.

I saw Lester leaving Ranger's office, I thought I heard Ranger say he was going to be out the rest of the day. I guessed that was right, I had told him to take some time off and clear his head. He stopped by my office.

"You look relaxed. What did you do this weekend?" I was hoping he would admit the truth of what had happened with Christy this past weekend.

"I worked on the house with Les and spent time with Christy."

At least he told the truth, but it did not make me any less furious, "I thought you were going to stay away from her until after today."

He went on to tell me the story and that she had pursued him. After hearing his story I calmed down.

"And no, Tank, I did not sleep with her. Regarding the meeting with her and the shop manager, it went well. I am not going to bill her for the house, I hope to be there some."

"You like her?"

"I do, I got to talk to her Saturday evening and spent all day with her yesterday. She is amazing."

We finished our conversation after joking and laughing a few minutes. Something we both needed. Afterwards, Ranger left my office and disappeared into the stairwell.

I sat back in my chair and smiled, he had not been this way since Bomber left, maybe things would get back to normal. Ranger needed more than just this office, I was happy for him, now if he did not fuck up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Not mine except mistakes and Christy. Thank you to MyMerryMen for helping me with my stories. You are a gem.**

Chapter 9

Ranger's POV

I told Tank I would be offline the rest of the day. Taking the stairs to seven, I entered the apartment and immediately placed a call to Ella. "I wanted to let you know I would not be here this evening for dinner and I will bring the laundry back from Point Pleasant. Also, there is no need to clean there right now. Lester and I left painting supplies out to finish this coming weekend." Ella replied that she understood. "There is one other thing I need you to do, please write down the sizes on the women's clothes that is in the laundry."

"Carlos, I have Stephanie's sizes."

"These are not her clothes, Stephanie is not back. I have found someone else, her name is Christy." I decided to tell Ella a little about her, she knew more about me than I would like, but she had seen my sheets and clothes and knew I had urges, so I will make a concession for her.

"Oh Carlos, I am so happy you are moving on."

I thanked her and hung up.

I had one more call to make, I wanted Stephanie to hear from me that I had moved on. Upon dialing her number, I got the recorded message that the number was no longer in service. I hung up, I tried to let her know. She would know soon enough, I am sure.

I threw some clothes in a duffel bag, I would probably be gone the night, or I hoped I would anyway. After leaving the apartment, I went to the garage and hopped in the turbo.

Trying to do this right, I stopped at the florist and picked up a bouquet of mixed flowers for Precious. I was going to do my best to be different and be what she deserved. When I pulled in to her place, I called her cell.

"Are you at the house or the office?"

"House, the door is open."

"Be in there in a minute."

I walked through the garage and knocked on the door before opening it. She was in the dining room folding laundry.

"I forgot it was in the dryer. Underclothes is the only thing I dry in the dryer. I usually hang everything else on the clothesline. Be right back." She gathered up the folded laundry and carried everything to her bedroom, I heard drawers open and close. She was back quicker than I guessed she would be.

"I brought you something." I handed her the flowers.

"They are beautiful, thank you." She was smelling them as she got a vase and water to put them in.

She gave me a kiss that told me again how much she appreciated and liked them. I would remember to buy flowers everyday if it made her that happy. We finally came up for air when the need became too great. Breathing was overrated at that moment.

"I am glad you like them. Are you ready to go?" She nodded and grabbed her purse and keys.

We walked to the shop, "Eric, we will be back later."

He threw up his hand, "See ya."

I held out my hand, she took it in hers. "I was going to drive."

"Nope, my circus, my monkeys. If there is a problem you do not need to be responsible."

"I could lose my man card for this."

She winked at me, "We will just have to chance it."

We buckled up before she would move down the driveway. Traffic was light so we made it to Point Pleasant in record time. I had to give her credit, she could drive. When we arrived, she positioned the trailer so we did not have to push the car anywhere in one shot. I pulled out the ramps for the trailer, while she tried to start the car. Ha! Next she got out the cable for the wench so we could drag the car on the trailer. Five minutes later, we were strapping the car to the trailer. We cleaned up the cardboard and put the ramps back in their compartment before going in the house to clean our hands.

She made a beeline for the bathroom to clean up. I washed my hands in the other lavatory, then gathered what laundry there was and made it back to the living room before she came out.

"I enjoyed my time here. Thank you." Christy said smiling and looking around the house.

"What are you doing next weekend?"

"I planned on canning some. What do you have in mind?"

"You could come with us. Lester and I are coming up here to paint some more."

"If you are coming up Saturday I can probably manage it."

"Are you in a hurry to get back today?"

"Not especially, what are you thinking?"

"We could spend some time here with each other, doing whatever you want. In case you did not notice, I did not want to leave this morning." I took her hands. "When you are ready to go to the next level tell me, it is not my intention to pressure you."

"Can we talk some more?"

"Sure." I moved to the couch, she joined me in what was quickly becoming our natural sitting position. Once she was settled, straddling me, I encouraged her to tell me what was going on in her head. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I'm scared, about the sex, about starting a relationship with you. I was with Alex for three years and after he died I was alone. I am scared of emotionally being hurt and letting you into my life could do that to me. When I was with Eric, I was safe because I knew he was not going to hurt me. After all he has watched over me since high school. When I sold out in Virginia, he came here with me. Eric is loyal and the best friend you can wish for. With you it's different. I want more from you than friendship, but at the same time I'm scared. Sex has a huge emotional weight; it is declaring a bond. Is that something you want? I am not saying marriage, but wham, bam, thank you ma'am isn't acceptable either. I want a long term stable relationship and won't risk getting hurt for anything less."

"I will never hurt you intentionally; I am not saying I will not accidentally. Yes, I want to be with you long term. Am I proposing to you, no. Will I down the road, I do not know. Am I leaving you after today, absolutely not."

She had been looking me in the eyes, I pulled her down against my chest. "The first time we are together, I am going to make love to you. Probably in the position we are in now, we both seem to like it. But regardless of the position, it will be slow and gentle. There is no reason to be nervous; I promise you will enjoy it."

I rubbed her back and kissed her on her head. Every word I said I meant, I wanted to make love to her. I wanted her to trust me and enjoy what I was doing to her. She kissed me on the neck and if possible snuggled down closer to me.

"In a few weeks, we have a beach party for the Rangeman staff and families here at the house. Will you come with me?"

"Sure, I would love to."

"We probably need to leave before the traffic gets bad. Lets get going," As I took her hand I walked towards the door.

I noticed on the way home Precious was very quiet. Hopefully she was just thinking.

We stopped at the little diner where we officially met the other day to get something to eat.

"Mentally, I have everything worked out for this weekend. Will we be coming back on Sunday or Monday morning?" Christy said as she opened the truck door.

"I would like to come home Monday morning, just like we did this week, I will skip the meeting. Tank can handle it. What is your plan?"

"Friday, I will do my canning. I have four big canners so that will not be a problem, I can do a lot that way. Just before the vet's office closes, I will take Hemi and Dakota there for boarding. It works well since they need their shots and baths. The rest of the animals should be fine on pasture. I will see if Eric can check on them make sure all four legs are pointed down. Would you like for me to bring some of our food? Grill some pork chops, corn, green beans all from the farm? For breakfast we could have eggs, bacon or sausage, toast and honey. Again, all from our farm and trust me you _will _taste a difference."

"Sure, it sounds great."

She really had been thinking hard and working out a plan.

Christy's POV

I laid it out to Carlos, my fears and insecurities. He listened. Afterwards, I felt much better. I wanted him, and I believed what he had said today along with last night confession at the beach in Spanish. He felt the same, he wanted me with him for a long term relationship or at least try for one.

I needed to work it out so I am not busy this weekend.

Ready to go to the next level, I thought about that, I wanted to enjoy his body more, and what he said about making love to me. I believed that he will be gentle with me, I am truly scared.

I knew that I was being quiet on the drive, but I had to get a game plan together. We stopped at the diner where we met, thank goodness. I was starved. While we waited, I laid my plan out to him for Friday. Going through it in my head it sounded good, it still sounded good when I told him.

"Will Lester be with us all weekend?"

"I hope not, I will schedule him to be at work at 1500 on Sunday. Unless of course you want him to stay."

"No that is alright, him leaving on Sunday is fine."

I liked Lester, probably could fall in love with him if I wasn't already falling for Carlos, but he had sent me a half a dozen text wanting to know how we were doing. Finally, I told him one more text and I would tell Ranger. That stopped him. What a nosy man!

When we finished eating, I told Carlos I was going to the restroom and handed him the keys to the truck. The man had an effect on me, my panties were soaked. Yeesh, I needed to get the hormones under control. Once finished in the restroom, I washed my hands. I had been thinking even more about what he had said and I wanted spend the rest of my day getting my nerve up to go to the next level. Finally starting to warm up to the idea of the next level, I was glad I had found him, he was what I felt I had been looking for. More confident in myself and in my own little pep talk in the restroom, I walked out of the restaurant towards my truck.

Note to self, NEVER give your keys to him. He had it running and was in the drivers seat. I was not going to argue, I let him drive.

"Remember, this is not a Porsche." With a smirk on my face, I decided to be a smartass, "Of course, now it looks like _you _are the one compensating for short comings."

A big smile came across his face, "Nah, the truck helps me keep my man card."

As we drove, I knew I wanted to get over my own fears, now for me to do that I needed to be playful and hopefully it would help get me over them, I reached my had in between his legs, "Yes, size matters."

He smiled that 200 watt smile, then took my hand and kissed the palm of it. He continued to hold it as he drove.

We made it back to the shop, Eric came out to meet us. I hopped in the car and cranked it, but it still refused to start.

"We can unload it in the morning, unless you need the truck tonight." Eric said as he continued looking the car over.

"I am home for the night, besides I have my car if I need to go out."

Carlos had walked over to his car. I saw him putting stuff in the car, but did not see what it was. He came back to where Eric and I were talking. I told Eric my plan. He agreed to check on the animals.

Before he walked off Eric said, "I am glad you are dating, so are the guys in the shop. They hated for you to be alone all the time, you are too good for that."

I bid him a good night and walked out to take care of the animals and harvest what was ready out of the garden. There was a bunch, so I grabbed a basket and got started. I came out of the garden later with a half of a bushel of green beans, tons of cucumbers, tomatoes and corn. Carlos helped me get it all to the house. Tomorrow and Wednesday would be busy days for me.

"That is a lot of food."

"Remember I said I take care of my guys, you are looking at thirteen to fifteen pounds of green beans, seventy five cucumbers I think, fifty two ears of corn and I have no clue how many tomatoes are there."

"I am impressed."

"Do you want to walk with me while I check on my chickens, gather eggs and then feed the horses?"

"Lead the way." We took off, later he asked, "Do you ever stop?"

"Not often. I take it you were raised in the city." He nodded his head. "Hang around here long enough, I will make a country boy out of you. I could have a new nickname for you City." I gave him my own version of the 200 watt smile.

In total, from the time I left the truck and trailer to being finished with everything was two hours and I still needed to fix dinner.

While we ate of the food we had just brought in I explained my homesteading life style and the difference in the foods from here and what was bought in the grocery store. We agreed that I would show him the difference in store bought eggs and the eggs from my farm in a side by side comparison. I went on to tell him why I canned food rather than freezing it. This evening explained a lot about my lifestyle to him. We had talked about it but until he saw it I don't think he fully understood.


	10. Chapter 10

**As usual not mine. Many, many thanks to MyMerryMen for your help. You are da bomb lady! Thank you for the reviews. **

Christy's POV

"Would you like to go snuggle for a while?" Carlos asked as he gently stroked my cheek.

"Let me shower first, I'll be quick."

I left the kitchen and walked into the master bathroom to check whether I needed to shave. After the water warmed, I jumped in and washed real quick, I even skipped the hair for now. Carlos was laying on the bed in a pair of black silk boxers when I walked out of the bathroom just in my towel. I must have moaned, because he started laughing.

"Come here."

I walked over to him and sat down after he motioned for me to take a seat beside him.

"Like I promised earlier today, I am not going any further than you say is okay."

"Okay," was all I could say and it was even a squeak.

"Nice outfit," he said giving me a 200 watt smile and pointing out the fact that I was wrapped only in my towel.

"I was not expecting you to be in here."

"Christy, I have a question and I want the truth. How do you usually dress for bed?"

I sighed, "I usually do not wear clothes to bed. They are too restrictive."

"If you are not ready I understand, but would you dress that way for me? It is your home, you should be comfortable in it."

"Are you going to shower?" I needed a minute to think, so I felt a change of topic would help me.

"I planned on it."

I shooed him out of the room and started chewing my fingernails. This was what I had wanted; I wanted him, but I needed courage to follow through. It was fast, way too fast. And then there was the being naked thing. Could I? Should I? Giving myself a pep talk and trying to think of how to justify doing what I wanted the most I came up with; One, this is my bed so I could decide if I wanted him in it or not in it. He is hot after all. Nobody can damn me for wanting to make love to him. Two, I wanted to sleep the most comfortable way as possible and that was without clothes. I am in my own home, I should not worry about things like that. And last but not least three, take a chance, see what happens.

Carlos came in a few minutes later clad in his boxers. Keeping his promise of no pressure, he laid down on top of the covers and we quickly found our way to each other.

"This is not going to work, you are going to get cold out from under the covers. Get under here."

He moved under the covers and we got back together. I wanted to feel his skin against mine, and it felt wonderful.

"Went with comfortable I see."

"How do you sleep? I did not ask you earlier."

"The boxers ensure that I am a gentleman _unless again you say otherwise_, but usually like you are now."

I lay there a few more minutes working on my courage. Finally, I made it. "Lose the boxers."

He turned on the lamp beside the bed and removed his boxers. God he was gorgeous.

Once they were gone, I looked up in his eyes, "Please don't break my heart. Make love to me."

It may have been a moment of weakness, but the time felt right to me.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I am sure."

With those four little words, Carlos had his body over mine. Everyone of his movements was deliberate, showing me how much he appreciated that I trusted him. He knew that for me this was a commitment and that by making love to me he committed himself to me. Gently he lowered his head to place a tender kiss on my mouth, it quickly escalated from there to the most passionate kiss I have ever experienced. I parted my lips to allow him access to my mouth. Our tongues probed each other. The kiss was passion filled and as deep as the ocean, one that would be forever etched in my memory. Taking his time to pay attention to each part of my body he moved to my neck and ear nipping the lobe before moving further down. Carlos kissed tenderly as he went, stopping to knead on my breast. A moan escaped me as he sucked each nipple. Once satisfied with his work he left his mark on my chest. It was the most pleasure I have experienced in a long time, I was not about to rush him. As he moved down my body, he stopped in various places, licking, nipping and kissing. He seemed to be in no rush and for that I was thankful. At one point I felt teeth and moaned. This touch of pain combined with the pleasure I was feeling was amazing and like nothing I had experienced before. Before I could get my bearings I felt him finally reaching my core. Slowly, like someone opening a delicate locket he spread my legs apart.

"If you are not comfortable with anything I am doing. Stop me. This is for your pleasure as much as my enjoyment too."

His tongue flicked my clit, it had been so long it was not going to take much for me to explode.

"You are so wet. Have you been waiting on this?"

He licked my pussy more, getting me to the edge but never allowing me to go on over. It was the most wonderful torture I could have imagined as my body jerked of its own volition. When I thought I could not stand more, he slid a finger in me, quickly followed by a second one and that was my undoing. There was no stopping the orgasm that flooded my body. Carlos encouraged me through the whole thing then rested his head on my stomach as I regained my composure.

When I was back in control he kissed my stomach gently, "Dios, you are beautiful," he sucked his fingers. "Tasty too, are you ready for what else I have in store for you?" He gave me a huge grin that told me I was in for more of that type pleasure.

He reached for a condom.

"You can use that if you want, but I know I am clean and I take a birth control shot."

He put it back, "I want to feel you without that."

He positioned himself to enter me, "Let me know if there is a problem."

Slowly, his cock entered my waiting body, yes, I was ready for him. My body was full of him but I accommodated him easily. Any doubt I had was gone after two long slow glorious strokes, that had me moaning with pleasure. I felt another orgasm building, and I wrapped my legs around him.

"Go with it Precious."

After a few more strokes the orgasm tore through my body, I screamed with pleasure.

"Enjoy it Precious."

Enjoy it I did. Another orgasm started building almost immediately. When I could not contain it any longer, I asked him to go with me and his body started to tense. As the orgasm exploded in my body, I screamed Carlos' name. Moments later as his release came he moaned my name and collapsed on me.

"Thank you, that was amazing."

"Precious, that was just the beginning. Are you okay?"

"I am fine, feeling very relaxed, how about you?"

He smiled a 1000 watt smile and I knew it had been great for him. He rolled us where I was on top. "It was wonderful; you felt incredible. Was it all you hoped?"

"Yes, it was and more."

"Let me know when you want more," he said as he moved to kiss me.

"I am not scared anymore." I kissed him deeply, just from that kiss and statement, I could feel him getting hard again inside me.

Once he was fully hard, I sat up on him and slid down his cock until my opening was against his body. When I was fully seated on him, I closed my eyes and tried to memorize his feel, the feel of his body under and in me. If tomorrow never came the pleasures and sensations I was experiencing at this moment would be etched in my memory forever.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine."

I went on to tell him what I was doing. These were memories I wanted along with the physical connection. He slowly pumped into me, while I brought my hands to my breasts. I massaged on them before reaching for his hands and guiding them to do the same thing. We stayed joined like this for an hour. Neither one trying to get the other off, we were enjoying being one. Agreeing it was time for me to ride his beast, we picked up the pace. I felt myself starting to tighten around his shaft. To aid me in achieving our desired goal, he flicked my clit with his finger a couple times. I let my orgasm flood through me, while he thrust in me a few more times before his release came. Savoring what had happened, I laid on his chest.

He ran his hands up and down my back, even that felt great. As far as I was concerned, he was amazing. We broke apart and went to the bathrooms to clean up. When I came back out, he was in the bed waiting on me. He flipped the covers back so I could get in, then he pulled me to him.

"Thank you for trusting me," he said before kissing me long and hard.

We went to sleep with him spooned in behind me, his arm wrapped around me and his hand cupping my breast. I knew he was an early riser, so I was not surprised when I woke up alone. I get up early too, just not 5AM. Needing to take care of business I walked into the bathroom. That's when I found a post-it-note on the mirror.

_Went for a run, be back soon. Carlos_

When I was finished, I gathered my clothes I needed and went to take a shower. Once out of the shower and decent, I went to the kitchen and started to make breakfast when he came back in.

"Good morning," he bid me as he gave me a sweet kiss.

I asked him if he would like an omelet for breakfast, he replied that he would and he would eat it after his shower. After a few minutes, he came back out dressed in Rangeman gear.

"Tell me what you think."

He took a bite, and a smile came across his face, "Very good."

"Do you think Tank will let you work today? After all you were supposed to take a few days off."

"It does not matter, I am getting the materials I need to put a security system in here."

"But I have not signed the contract, we have not gone over pricing."

"For the house, I am not charging anything. I want you safe when I am not here."

I tried to argue with him but after a few minutes I knew it was no use. Finally, I nodded in defeat and signed the contract without reading it, something I never do.


	11. Chapter 11

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMem for putting up with me.**

Chapter 11

Carlos/Ranger's POV

I left her thinking about how she wanted to sleep, not pressuring her, but this was her home and bed. My guess was she would have a t-shirt or something on when I went back. Surprised would be an understatement when she asked me to join her under the covers. I was even more surprised when I saw how she was dressed or rather not dressed. She told me to lose the boxers, I was happy to do so. I felt she had been trying to get her courage up before she told me to lose them.

Her request was simple, she asked me not to break her heart. I have no intention of doing so. Then she wanted me to make love to her. With great pleasure, I thought, but asked her to make sure she wanted this to happen.

"Yes, I am sure."

I had to kiss her, it was a big step for her after our talk today. Slowly, I worked my way down her body, savoring it as I went. I sucked on her chest leaving my mark; she deserved to be worshiped. Then I went down the left leg and back up the right before settling in her core. Asking her to let me know if I did anything she was uncomfortable with, I gently spread her legs open and flicked her clit a couple times. Dios, she tasted good, I had not tasted a woman since Stephanie. I did not dare do this with the women I picked up for my BDSM and other pleasures. It was too hard to tell if they were clean or not. It was easy to tell she had been thinking on this for a bit, she was wet. I moved for a condom. She told me to use it if I wanted but she was taking birth control shots, fine by me, I wanted to feel her not latex.

I felt at home in this woman and with this woman. Our first time together felt like heaven. Our second time was equally as amazing, she was on top and had taken all of me in her. When she didn't start moving I asked her whether something was wrong. Her reply was the most interesting and sweet answer I could have wanted. Christy said she was trying to memorize the pleasures and the sensations of being connected this way. I slowly pumped in her and fondled her breast. It was different, but something I totally enjoyed, she was right. I wanted to memorize these moments too, wonderful memories to take on missions for long lonely nights.

Then we decided it was time for her to ride my beast. It felt fantastic and after the pleasures we had both felt before, it did not take long for us to cum. Needing to catch our breath we cuddled for a few minutes so the earth could stop moving. Once we settled, it was clean up time. Cum was covering both of us, making our skin slick and sticky. We met back in the bed once we were done in the bathrooms and naturally drifted towards each other.

I knew she was scared so I thanked her for trusting me, it was humbling so to speak. We spooned in together, I had my arm around her and my hand cupping one of her breast, we ended up asleep like that.

I woke at 0500, then slipped into her bathroom to dress. Not wanting her to wake and think I left in the middle of the night, I left her a note letting her know I was out for a run. When I returned, she was in the kitchen making breakfast. I showered, dressed and came back out and met her back in the kitchen. She handed me a plate with an omelet and waited before asking my opinion. Damn, it was good and I told her. There was indeed a difference in fresh eggs versus store bought.

I needed to go to the office to get the materials to put the security system in the house. I knew she would sign the contract so I blew her off when she mentioned it. Curious about her schedule for today and trying to change the subject, I asked her about her plans.

"An appearance at the shop and back to here to can beans."

"I am going to the office for our meeting and getting the materials for the system in here. Hopefully, I will be back by 1100. Lester may come with me or follow me, then if I need help, he will already be here."

Without reading the contract, she signed it and handed it to me. I let her know I would do the garage on Thursday.

She kissed me, purred in my ear that she would see me in a little while, while she ran her hands across my chest. Suddenly, my pants were fitting a little tighter than before that exchange.

On my drive to the office, I thought about how she worked so hard yesterday evening, spending two hours in the garden and taking care of the animals. There had to be something I could do to ease her burden. Woody and Hal had grown up on farms. It was not what they had signed on for when they came to work for me, but I needed to talk to them and find out if they wanted to help her, plus see if she would accept their help.

I made it to the office at 0750, picked up my copy of the agenda for the meeting. Tank had been conducting the meetings while I had been offline.

"Bossman, wasn't expecting to see you this morning, you are supposed to be taking time off."

"I am offline, Christy signed her contract and I am installing the system in her house today."

"It kind of defeats the purpose of time off."

"Do not worry Tank, Christy will be there to distract me." I used one of Lester's trade mark things, I waggled my eyebrows at him.

"I hope you know what you are doing."

The meeting was over quickly, I wanted to get the needed supplies, her contract scanned in the system, and get out. I needed to talk to Lester, Woody and Hal before leaving.

"Santos, Woody, Hal in my office in ten."

While I was scanning in Christy's contract, the men came in my office. I motioned for them to close the door before I began speaking. "Gentlemen, Lester already knows, I have started a relationship with a new woman. Christy Maxwell. Hal and Woody, I know both of you grew up on farms. Did you enjoy it?"

Both men replied yes and they loved and missed it.

"Good, Christy has four hundred acres, it is a working farm. Between it and the body shop she works a hundred hours per week. Would you two like to alternate working around there? You will still be paid by Rangeman."

Hal spoke first, "Sounds good to me, I really do miss it."

"I loved it too, it had me outside, I preferred it over being inside any day of the week," Woody stated.

"I will speak to her about it and let you know, maybe we can go to lunch soon so you can meet her. Dismissed. Santos you stay."

"What's up?"

"I do not think Christy read her contract before signing it. If she did, she did not question one thing in there."

"Why would she, it is a standard contract, right?"

"Not exactly, if I am in the wind, you move to my place in her life, be with her just as I am now. If she so desires and if you truly love her."

"Does is list me specifically or just another Rangeman?"

"You specifically, she is comfortable around you and loves you almost as much as she loves me. She said she feels safe around you. If there ever comes a time when I am not around either temporarily or permanently, she is yours if you are interested. I think the two of you would be good together. I don't want her to find somebody new while I'm away. You I know and trust."

He nodded in understanding then smiled, in all actuality he knew what was going through my mind, I would share her, bastard. Dios, Christy had no idea how sick I really could be, and I sat her up to be ours.

I dismissed him, then finished going over some of the other contracts that came in over the last couple of days. If the numbers I was seeing were correct, we had a problem. They were not where I wanted them to be to do the expansions I had planned. It was very unusual. If it kept up, I would have to take a 'professional' contract to stay on track. I dreaded the thought of going in the wind and landing in some hostile country. It was not that I could not afford to expand, but I did not want my funds to get below a certain dollar amount. When I finished, I went to get the materials I needed to do the system in her house.

I met Hector in his _office, _or the second floor where he performed his wizardry on the computers and other electronics. He was a little upset with me thinking I had replaced Stephanie. I explained to him that I had not replaced her, she had replaced me and I had simply moved on. After that he calmed down. Hector could be scary if properly motivated and I had no intention of motivating him.

With the supplies I needed in hand, I left his domain. As I headed down the stairs, I sent Lester a quick text with Christy's address and told him to come over once he was done with his sales call.

When I arrived back at Christy's, I went through the door and heard her calling she was downstairs. A couple moments later, she came up the stairs, met me in the living room and gave me a very welcoming kiss. If Lester was not probably on his way I could have gotten distracted from my work. Eh, I did anyway, just not carried away and taking her to the bedroom would have been carried away.

I pulled her against me, letting her know her effect on me, "That is for you later."

"Promises, promises," then she smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

I kissed her again just before Lester arrived. As soon as he got in the door she gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, surprisingly he did not kiss her on the mouth like I had expected.

"I will be downstairs if you need me," then kissed me one last time before returning to her canning.

I saw Lester adjusting himself, "Do not get yourself into trouble cuz, I am not scheduled for any missions at the moment, remember, I am currently out."

He gave me that shit eating grin of his, "Yea, but I know you have gone on assignments that have nothing to do with our government. Maybe I need to call in a favor from someone. Let me think, who owes me a favor."

We started working on the install for her house, Lester commented on how beautiful this house was and asked if she and I got serious would we stay in it. I thought about it for a while, yes I would stay. We had a lot more room than if we moved in to my apartment plus with the dogs and animals, this made the most sense. I knew this was my dick thinking, but I could fuck her here as easy as at my apartment.

The install took the rest of the afternoon, by the time we finished it was close to dinner time. Christy was in the downstairs kitchen finishing up the last of the canning for the day. Using my stealth mode, I sneaked up behind her and grabbed her around her waist then peppered her neck with kisses, she in turn squealed with delight.

The three of us decided to go to Shorty's for dinner, Hal and Woody were going to meet us there. She let me drive her truck to dinner, never in my life would I have thought a female _let _me drive. I was going to lose my man card.

When we arrived, Hal and Woody were waiting on us inside, I introduced them to Christy. Lester sat on one side of her and I on the other. They made chit chat with her and asked her where she worked, both men looked impressed when she told them about owning the body shop.

Talking stopped when the food arrived, Hal and Woody were listening to hear moaning. They were stunned when Christy did not moan, "What?"

"Sorry but the guys were waiting to see if you moaned when you ate. It was a Stephanie trait."

"Guys, I am sorry, but I am not Stephanie, and I do not moan when I eat unless it is chocolate, then I might."

A look of disappointment crossed their faces then they started to eat. The silence was uncomfortable for her I am sure. Lester and I rubbed her legs to console and soothe her.

I got the subject of Christy's farm brought back up and the men started to ask questions. They wanted to know what she grew in her garden, what kind of livestock she had and what the rest of the farm was like. She answered their questions and invited them over to ride four wheelers and have fun. I was thankful she won them over.

"Christy, they are willing to help you on the farm if you will let them. They would alternate between one another on coming over. Would four hours from each of them help you?"

"It would help a lot. Do you guys want to help around the farm?"

Woody spoke up first, "Hell yeah. Anything to get out of monitor duty."

"Absolutely, monitor duty is like shit detail and I would rather shovel shit than do monitor duty," spoke Hal.

"Sounds good to me. Ranger can work out the schedule. Oh, and I take it from your reactions, you hate monitor duty not that anything you said would give me that idea," she smiled and chuckled at them when she finished talking.

Lester and I smiled, she was going to get along fine with these guys.


	12. Chapter 12

**Not mine. Except Christy. Thank you MyMerryMen for all of your help and encouragement.**

Chapter 12

Christy's POV

Riding back home in the truck, I was thinking about meeting the guys this evening, I was glad to have gotten to meet Woody and Hal, both seemed sweet. How in the world Carlos finds all these hot men is beyond me, the women that work in the office must have fans on them all day. Come to think of it I have never met any women from the office.

"Carlos, how many women work in your office?"

"Only the housekeeper. She takes care of cleaning the building while her husband does the other maintenance the building needs. They are my aunt and uncle on my mother's side."

I nodded in understanding. It made sense really, at the shop there was only the receptionist who was female and I did not count me. Usually in security, you didn't think about women being in that field of work either.

Surprisingly, Lester was quiet on the drive back, I wondered why, he never shuts up. Men talked about women being gabby, Lester seemed like the office gossip. "Lester, are you okay back there?"

"Yes Gorgeous, just thinking that is all."

Oh Lord, I thought. Lester and thinking, that cannot be good. Carlos had told me what happens when Lester thinks, it is usually followed by an office prank. I bit the bullet.

"Whatcha, thinking about?"

"We need hot chicks working in the office rather than just a bunch of guys."

"Carlos, I would never hire another female to work in the office, Lester is a sexual harassment suit looking for a place to happen."

"He _is_ the reason we do not have women working in there."

"You two knock it off, I can behave if I have to."

Carlos replied back, "Sure you can, and I am the president."

I chuckled, Lester and behave in the same sentence, yeah, right.

When we arrived back at the house, Lester helped me out of the truck and straight into his arms, then he kissed me, on the mouth, in front of Carlos. I thought my eyes were going to bug out of my head and I could not wait to see Carlos' reaction.

"Excuse me, what was that for?"

"Sorry, I got carried away with all that talk about hot females working in the office."

He gave me a shit-eating grin that told me he had done it just to be ornery, in a silent reply I ignored him and shook my head. Carlos gave him an invite to meet him on the mats in the morning if he did not stop.

Lester told us he was going on back to the office and he would see me soon and Carlos in the morning at the office. I bid him a good night and Carlos just nodded. They had some weird ESP crap. Carlos threw me over his shoulder and took off towards the front door, before setting me down he smacked my ass, I managed to get a smack in on his fine ass too. I laughed and giggled at the exchange between us, when I looked up at him, he had a feral look in his eyes and I knew this evening was just getting started.

I backed in the door and turned to make an escape but it was useless, he had me in his arms before I made it two steps. He pushed me onto the couch before covering me with his body and kissing me senseless. Eventually he let me up and wanted me to straddle his lap as usual.

"I had a wonderful time with the guys this evening, I really like Woody and Hal."

"They liked you too. What will you do with all that extra time?"

"You say that like a joke but you have no idea how much that will help me. It will allow me to slow down some. I can make some of the soups I like to preserve, veggie soup and tomato soup, the guys love both. Thank you for doing that for me."

"You are welcome."

I gave him a long soft kiss on his sweet lips, I never got tired of kissing him. Probably never would. He deepened the kiss and it took a passionate turn. This man was lightening fast, he had me out of my bra and shirt practically without breaking our kiss. I had to help him out of his shirt of course.

When we broke apart, Carlos asked, "What things do you enjoy sexually, when we are together?"

I thought for a moment, "I am not sure what you mean, what we did the other night was great."

"Okay, do you have any fantasies? Besides what we did, is there other things you enjoy, being tied up, two on one, that type of sex?"

I was a little put off by his questions and really nervous. One thing I did not want to talk about was how Alex died, it was not pleasant.

"I..I..really never do anything like that. I guess I have always been vanilla. Is there something you like?"

I was dreading hearing his answer, I knew this was going to open up a conversation I did not want to have or hear.

"I enjoy everything. My favorite things to do is BDSM, but I like other things as well."

I moved to get off of him, the conversation just moved to an area I was definitely not comfortable with. Unfortunately, he stopped me.

"Did I say or do something wrong?"

"No, it is just my luck. BDSM is something I will not do. I told you Alex died, I just did not tell you how."

I waited for a moment, and he acknowledged my pain and allowed me to get off of him.

"Alex and I had a perfect relationship up until the last couple months of his life. He started watching porn on the internet, he got started watching bondage to be exact. Eventually he wanted to go places to participate in it, he wanted to be tied up, I went a couple times but I could not take it. I could not 'punish' him, so I allowed him to go without me. Long story, short. The whatever she is, had handcuffed him to the bed feet and wrist, then there was an electrical fire in the building. The woman panicked, ran from the room and left Alex behind trapped, he died in that fire. So no, I will never do that."

The last part came out in sobs, he held me while I cried and rubbed circles on my back. Finally he started speaking in Spanish to me but I was too upset to understand.

"Precious, I am so sorry for your loss. I understand, no we will never do that, I did not mean to upset you so, please, please forgive me for bringing it up."

It took some time but eventually I calmed back down. When I could finally speak again, I elaborated on what I had learned after the fire, too little too late the damage was done and my husband was gone.

"The place had multiple fire code violations and nobody should have been occupying the building. For some reason, the fire marshal never enforced the restrictions or somebody paid him off, I don't know."

"Wow, I am really sorry for ever mentioning any of this. One thing I did not want to do was cause you pain and I can see I have caused a lot this evening. Let's go to bed and let you recoup."

The feral look in his eyes was gone, he had a look of concern and compassion, it bothered him that he had caused me pain, it was not just his words but the look and the tenderness he showed me the rest of the evening.

Good thing I was not ticklish, Carlos was spooned into me and rubbing circles on my stomach with his fingertips. It probably would have tickled most people, but only certain parts of my body were ticklish, the backs of my knees mainly. I relaxed into his arms and was calmed even more by his tenderness.

I answered his question from earlier, "A threesome has always been a fantasy of mine, Alex never wanted another man with us, and I did not want another woman involved."

If possible, I snuggled closer to him, I felt him kiss my shoulder a couple times before I drifted off to a restless sleep. I had nightmares from the night of the fire and being told Alex was gone, I woke with a start, Carlos was not there, I was alone in the bed.

I got up and went in the bathroom, it was only about 2AM. I wandered through the rest of the house, but he was nowhere to be found. Not sure whether to call him, I let him be, maybe he had an emergency call from the office. My next waking moment was feeling the bed dip, he was back.

"Everything okay?"

"Yes, we had an emergency, Cal was shot, I had to go to the hospital."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah, they are going to keep him a couple days, just to be sure. Go back to sleep."

I had no trouble doing that, I was out like a light. The alarm went off at 6AM, quietly, I slipped out of bed not wanting to wake Carlos since he had a long night. Luckily, I did not wake him, I peeked at him, he looked exhausted. I was not sure if he was supposed to be off today, so I finished in the bathroom, before gently sitting on the bed and waking him.

In a low voice I asked, "Hey baby are you working today?"

He replied in a very sleepy voice, "Not now but later. Are you?"

"Just long enough to do payroll, I will be back in an hour. Go back to sleep and I will come back and join you."

Then I kissed him on the cheek before leaving for the shop. Payroll was simple, everybody was on a salary and bonus checks would be done next week, mainly this week was print and sign. I gave them out on Thursday evenings.

When I went back in the house, Carlos was still asleep, I slipped my clothes off and slid back in bed with him. He felt nice and warm, I went back to sleep easily. A couple hours later, I was woke up by having kisses placed up and down my neck and gentle little nips thrown in for good measure. A very nice way to wake up. As soon as he knew I was awake, I found myself under him.

He kissed his way down my body, paying special attention to various parts that interest a man the most, before settling in one of his favorite spots on my body. As he had me building to a mind blowing climax, my hips bucked of their own accord. When my orgasm took me, I knew my eyes rolled into the back of my head, cause I am pretty sure I saw gray matter. Once my body started to calm and my breathing returning to normal, I heard him say welcome back.

Did I mention he had a way with his tongue? Jeez he was awesome.

He positioned himself over me and I looked forward to what was coming next. Slowly he slid himself into me, I moaned at the pleasure of starting my morning off right, before continuing on he stilled for a minute.

"Have I told you exactly how good it feels to be in you?"

"No you haven't. How good does it feel?"

"Like" (thrust) "heaven" (thrust) "here on" (thrust) "earth." (thrust)

I liked the pounding action this morning, and was glad to meet him thrust for thrust. With as sensitive as my body was, I knew it would not take long to get another orgasm, as soon as that one was over, I could feel another one building.

"Let's go together Precious," the last part came out as a strained growl as his own orgasm exploded through his body. I joined him.

We laid there still joined together, recuperating for a few minutes. He moved to get up, slowly pulling himself out of my body. I, however, laid there a little longer, reminiscing about what had just happened, the pleasure I enjoyed, yum and the thoughts that I would love some more of him.

I heard the shower come on and a voice from the bathroom, "Would you like to join me?" That got me moving, I wanted to join him in the shower, join him on the couch, in the bed. Whoops, that was not the joining he meant at the moment, bummer.

When we finished in the shower, we dried off and got dressed. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I am going to the hospital to check on Cal, then go to the office, there is a ton of paperwork waiting on me. What are your plans?"

"Go to the shop, check over a car that is due to leave tomorrow, that will take most of the day."

"I will try to be back by 1800." He shook his head. "6PM."

I smiled, he knew I hated trying to figure out military time. Before leaving he gave me a kiss good-bye, one that should hold me for the rest of the day. I continued to smile.

Around 1PM, he called, "Lester and I are going to Shorty's for lunch, would you like to join us?"

"Sure, I would love to go."

"Be there in ten," and he was gone.

I told Eric where I was going and that I had no clue how long I would be gone. I walked over to my house to change shirts, while I was there, Carlos came in. His eyes darkened when he saw me with no shirt, he crossed the room in three strides and wrapped his arms around my bare midsection. I moaned, while moving my left arm and hand to his hair and side of his face.

"Hey baby, I had dust all over my shirt from sanding on a car, I thought I would change before leaving."

The feral look from last night was back, he spun me around then kissed down my neck and onto my chest. He made his way to my breast sucking on the nipple through the fabric of my bra and eventually raking his teeth over the now hard nipple, he repeated the process on the other breast.

"I thought we were going to lunch with Lester?"

He stopped, "We are along with a couple of the other men you have not met, Bobby and Manny will be there too. We had better go before I forget about eating food and have you for lunch instead."

I slipped a clean t-shirt on and we left. We arrived at Shorty's a few minutes later, the guys were already waiting on us. Ranger introduced us and Lester gave me a hug and kiss, at least this one was not on the mouth. I was seated between Lester and Ranger again, both had a hand on my thighs.

When our food arrived these guys did not wait to see if I moaned when I ate, Woody and Hal must have warned them. Over all the conversation was nice between us and there was no awkward silences.

Bobby and Manny were funny, I learned that Bobby was usually Lester's partner on the street, but had been teaming up with Manny since Lester had been hanging more with Ranger.

I noticed Ranger was letting me more and more into his life by slowly introducing me to his staff, it was comforting to know he was accepting me and last night's conversation didn't turn him off.


	13. Chapter 13

Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen for all of your help.

Chapter 13

After lunch Christy and I parted and I drove back to Rangeman. Now I was sitting at my desk with a mountain of paperwork, I could not believe Tank left all this shit for me to do. Not being able to concentrate with this massive hard-on was the main problem, my sick mind had been dreaming about watching Christy with Lester and then joining them at some point. If I intended on getting anything done, I needed to close and lock my office door and take care of this myself, no way I could get out of the building like this.

With the door closed and locked, I returned to my desk planning on taking matters in to hand. A phone call stopped me.

"Ranger Manoso."

"I thought I might catch you in the office, I wanted to check on you see how you have been."

"Mom, I am a little busy at the moment, tons of paperwork that I need to handle. Can I call you later?"

But I was talking about my mother here, I finished speaking with her then went back and unlocked my door. One thing about my mother, she had always had impeccable timing, she always seemed to know when I was looking at a Playboy in my room and would knock on the door, more than once she called when I was with Stephanie. Now was no different, she took care of my problem and I understand I am not the first man in history that this had happened to, every man in the world has had his mother interrupt that type situation. My father happened to be good at that too.

A couple hours later, I had finished most of the paperwork, but my eyes had had enough. I still had a lot of other things to do and not much time to finish them. Before heading home, I went to check on Cal to see how he was feeling this evening. He said he felt better just a little sore, he asked me about Christy, Bobby had told him about me seeing her and his meeting her at lunch today.

I told him very little other than he would be meeting her soon and she would be attending the Rangeman party in a couple weeks. Getting out of the building proved to be harder than I had planned, Tank stopped me to ask a question, then Manny and Vince both stopped me to give a brief report on an incident they were returning from. It seemed nobody wanted to let me leave, finally after an additional delay of thirty minutes I made it out of the building.

I sent Tank a text, "Other than death, I am OFFLINE." I hoped that would get my point across. My conversation with Christy needed to happen and it needed to be tonight. With only three weeks until I left for Colombia, I wanted as much time and as many memories as possible. Now to hope all of it worked out.

Upon entering the house, I got a whiff of something wonderful smelling, following my nose, I found Christy in the kitchen. She was taking baked barbecued chicken out of the oven, my mouth started to water over the smell. Already on the counter was a baked sweet potato for me, a regular potato for her, and green beans, everything looked delicious.

Before going to wash my hands, I kissed her hello, when I got back she had my plate made ready for me to take to the table. I laid her contract on the table so I had it at hand if I needed it when we talked. She followed me over with her plate, then went to get us drinks.

The first thing I tasted was the chicken, I almost moaned, I have eaten a lot of chicken over the years, but the freshness and flavor of this was incredible. The meal overall was outstanding.

"Precious, I need to talk to you about a couple things." She made a gesture for me to continue. "I am crazy about you, you know that." She nodded that she did. "When you signed your contract with Rangeman, it was not a standard contract. Did you read it prior to signing it?"

She gave a nervous laugh, "No, I didn't you was here when I signed, did I sign away my first born or something.?"

"No not that, although at some point a child with you might be on the table. You know I do government contracts and some for other countries where they want to keep their hands clean so to speak." She was listening, so I continued, "Some of these assignments takes me away for a few days, sometimes a few weeks, some have had me gone a few months. I have one that I have accepted that will have me gone about three months maybe longer, it also pays enough to allow me to set up my office in DC without dipping into my personal money."

"Okay, what does that have to do with me? Other than you will be gone for a while."

So far so good, I thought. "In your contract, I made a provision for a person to be with you while I am gone. This person will replace me while I am out of the picture in every aspect of our relationship, he will be here day and night and yes sleep with you if you want. That part is up to you."

She sat there looking at me with a bewildered expression on her face. After a few moments, of I presume thinking, she replied, "Let me get this straight, like an idiot, I signed a contract without reading it that gives me another man in my life if I want him while you are gone?! It is my choice if I want him, and you will not be mad or jealous of the situation? You do not see anything wrong with this? May I ask who this poor fellow is?"

She was not happy, not pissed either, I would say she was mostly confused about the whole situation.

"It is Lester, I know you are comfortable around him and some part of you actually loves him. Believe it or not, he is in love with you, has been about as long as I have, he would never act upon those feelings because of me. He is to be your body guard. Where I am going, if they find out I am there, they will look for a way to get me to back off, you...would become a target, a big target or to put it another way, the most effective target. Lester is to be there to lay his life down to protect you. He steps up to fill my shoes and obligations to you the only difference, he will not be going to Rangeman to work, his duties include being with you twenty-four/seven...you are his only job while I am gone. If the two of you decide to have a romantic relationship while I am gone, I am fine with it. I know you have needs."

"What happens if I decide I love him more or can't choose between you later, then what, you both get pissed and dump me. Beat the shit out of each other to see who gets the girl? Carlos, I am not liking this conversation at all. It sounds like you want him here so I do not go out and possibly find someone else, not that I intend on doing that."

She was getting pissed now, so I knew she understood how much he would be around. "Christy, I...I am telling you this so you know and understand the gravity of my job. Really, I do not want to leave you ever and I do not like the thought of his hands touching your body or any other part of his body touching yours. You do not have to have sex with him, that is your choice, the body guard part, I will not risk, it is non-negotiable."

Her facial expression softened, I knew then she understood the seriousness of my job. "Did you do this with Stephanie, assign a body guard to her that could have sex with her if she wanted?"

"No, I did not, she had body guards at different times, but none could have sex with her."

"So, I am a piece that you are willing to share, pass around to your employees if you get tired of me?!" Her voice was going up several octaves as she went. Now she was getting really pissed.

"No Christy, I wanted someone with you, I know there is sexual tension between you two. He is the only man I would share you with, I trust him to be with you through thick and thin, he would never leave you if something happened to me. Right now, if I got killed, he would be at your side and never leave unless: one, you told him to leave, or two, he was killed, or three you died. If number three happened on his watch, the man would be riddled with guilt to the point he would probably kill himself thinking he had let me down. I trust him that much. Now, changing the subject just a tad, you mentioned the other night, a fantasy of a threesome, he is the only man, I would consider being with you and me."

The confused look was back, "You trust him that much? Don't get me wrong, there is sexual tension between us, but I always thought it was more from his side. I yes, think he is hot, but I have yet to meet anybody on your staff that is not. You know you kind of make him sound like he is a dog, being so loyal. Scratch him behind the ears type thing. As far as the threesome goes, it is only a fantasy."

"Lester is probably more of the belly rub type rather than the ears. Yes, I trust him that much, not only is he blood, but he has had my back for years, now, he will have your back. Please accept his being with you, and I will tell you now, if I see the possible threat level going up on you, there will be more men assigned to protect you. You will get tired of seeing Woody and Hal, they will be doing more than helping you in the garden. If you ever want the threesome it can become a reality for you, just say the word."

"Okay, I accept the _body guard _only stuff. Lester needs to not get his hopes up."

She needed to be prepared for Lester, he could charm a cobra if he decided to, her pants would be no challenge for him.

After dinner, we went to the garden to see what was ready to be picked, Hal and Woody needed to start here now. Being in the garden was not what I wanted to be doing, being in her was what I wanted. We were in the corn when I slipped up behind her.

"I could down you here and nobody would ever know," I came off with while placing kisses down her neck.

"You could, it would be a different type Garden of Eden, but I would rather wait and get in the hot tub this evening."

I liked the way she thought, "Lets get moving then."

It did not take us long to breeze through the garden only lightly picking it, she stored everything in the fridge while I went to get us some towels and to leave my utility belt in the bedroom since there was no danger here. We went out to the hot tub as we had talked about in the garden, I kissed her neck and shoulders while removing her shirt and bra. She in turn helped me out of my shirt and pants, I went back to paying tribute to her body by removing her pants. Um, she was commando today.

I helped her into the hot tub before joining her, it felt great, I did not realize I needed something so relaxing until I hit the tub. Leaning back against the side of the tub, I closed my eyes and let today melt away, Christy was accepting the need for a body guard to be with her. She sat beside me and took my hand just holding it, I opened my eyes to look at her, she looked peaceful, wonder what she was thinking.

"You are awfully quiet," I said.

"Just thinking, how much danger are you going to be in?"

"Not a lot, as long as they do not know I am there, if they find out then it goes up extensively, and as my danger level goes up...so does yours and your body guards. This is why I normally do not do relationships, my past can come back and bite me in the ass through those I love."

"So for me you are making an exception, and continuing to have a relationship?"

"Yes, that is what I want. I am not under contract with any agency right now, and I have no plans of going back under contract. I would have not taken this one except the money is too good to pass up it is really lucrative, especially since I am wanting to do this expansion. Promise me one thing, while I am gone, if Lester tells you to do something out of the ordinary, listen to him, he will explain what was going on and why he did what he did, it may be for your own safety. In our line of work, sometimes explanations take too long, even if it is only a few seconds, a gunshot does not take but a second."

"I will do as he says, unless it is to get me into bed, he is going to have to be better than that."

I smiled, "Smart girl."

She leaned over and kissed me, then I pulled her over and on to me and my cock, she slid down over me, allowing me to fill her completely. I wanted this round to last a while, I felt our relationship just changed to a new level of closeness, I slowly pumped into her. Looking up at her, I caught her eyes watching me, we smiled at the thoughts of what our bodies were doing to the other. She wrapped her arms around my neck and let her lips crash down on mine when the need for air became too much we broke apart. I cupped her breast in my hands, massaging and caressing each until the nipples were in taut peaks, at that point I let my mouth take over on her breast. She threw her head back and effectively thrusting her breast out further, I heard her breathing change and become more erratic, she was close, I however was not. She flew as the climax tore through her body, I watched her enjoy the pleasures my body could give her, slowly she came back down. Before I was ready to finish, Christy had had two more orgasms, when I was ready to cum I asked her to go with me, we both exploded at the same time. This orgasm was the strongest I have ever felt from a woman, her body was rigid as the orgasm went through her, it made mine feel even stronger. I was actually worried about her.

When she came back down, she smiled and it told me exactly how good it felt and how relaxed she now was.

" Are you going to be okay?"

"Luckily this is my house and I don't have to drive, otherwise I would never make it. Can we go to bed now?"

"Absolutely." I got out of the tub, helped her out and dried her off then wrapped the towel around her, then I dried off and replaced the cover on the tub before we went upstairs.

Overall, she had taken everything well considering I told her that her life would be in danger because of me.


	14. Chapter 14

** I own nothing except Christy. Thank you MyMerryMen, you rock!**

Starting Over After Failure

Chapter 14

Lester's POV

I knew Ranger was going to have a talk with Christy about her contract, needless to say, I wanted to know how she took the news. Ranger made it into the office in time for the morning meeting, no big surprise with the woman he had at home.

After the meeting he and I walked back to his office, I closed the door behind us, "So how did she take the news?"

"She says you are not getting in her pants."

I smiled, I loved a good challenge.

"I am trying to introduce her to the ones that will be going with me on the mission, do you wanna go to lunch with us again today? I am going to have Hector and Rich meet her today, that way she will have the team least once before the party."

I nodded then left his office. If she thinks I could not talk her out of her pants, she does not know me. I can sell ice cubes to Eskimos and sand to somebody in Egypt, her pants...no problem.

Christy's kindness won me over weeks ago, she loved to cook and preserve food for the men on her staff that do not have families. I had spent some time talking to those men on her staff, they told me, she had paid for a couple of them to go through drug rehab, rather than dismissing them when they failed a random drug test. To me, that said a lot about her, she would have been well within her rights to dismiss them, but she stuck by them and gave them a second chance. She was also funny, I had never seen Ranger laugh so much in years, god only knew he needed to laugh more, he was the biggest stick in the mud before she came along, now he was tolerable.

I worked on paperwork that had accumulated on my desk over night until lunch time. Ranger sent me a text to meet him in the garage in ten. Finishing up what I was working on, I thought more about Christy. Would she even give me a second look? Truthfully, I doubted it, she really had eyes only for him. I headed out to meet him in the garage, he showed up a couple minutes after me. We left in his turbo, she was meeting us at a diner called Smokey Joe's, it was a barbecue place on the outskirts of town.

We arrived fifteen minutes later, Hector and Rich were already there as was Christy waiting on us, this was not good. Hector was not happy that Ranger was seeing her, he felt Ranger had replaced Stephanie, hopefully his opinion had changed. We walked in, Christy was sitting by herself at the front, while the guys were at a table in the back.

Ranger stopped by Christy to take her hand and greet her, then he escorted her to the table with the men. I could tell from the start Hector was not going to be nice.

Ranger introduced her to Hector and Rich.

"So this is the puta you chose to replace my Angel?" Hector said in Spanish.

Ranger said nothing. "I am not a puta and how dare you call me one. I recall being told Stephanie left Ranger, it is his right to move on. If you love her so much, go get her, but I. Will. Not. Be talked that way about or to. Do I make myself clear?"

By the time she finished her statement to Hector, she was growling at him, I needed to remember not to piss her off.

Hector smiled, "She is quite the spitfire, I understand why you like her. Christy, I am sorry, Stephanie was my angel. Will you forgive me?" this time in perfect English. She nodded her reply.

Christy did not charm him nor did she try, but she would not tolerate being called a derogatory name either, especially since it was unjust. She was cordial to him and he likewise to her. I didn't see them being best buds anytime soon.

After lunch, Ranger, Christy and I remained at the table while Hector and Rich left. Rich had been quiet during lunch, mainly taking in everything, he was nice to Christy when they talked. Maybe after the conversation between Hector and Christy, Rich became too nervous to talk to her.

" Precious, you met the last of my team that is going to Colombia with me. I do not have to ask your opinion of Hector, but what did you think about the rest of the team?"

" I feel better knowing they have your back including Hector. He is not a problem as long as he is there to fight with you. I presume they are the four team members you have spoke of. Hector, Rich, Manny and Bobby? Last night you said Hal and Woody were going to be at my place, along with Les, is that still the case?"

Ranger nodded his head, "If the danger level goes up, Hal and Woody will also be bodyguards for you in addition to Les. Hal will be at your place tomorrow and Woody the day after. They will work in the garden or whatever else you need. When do you need to get hay for the cattle?"

"Soon, winter will be here before you know it. Guys, I hate to cut this short, but I have work to do, I need to get back to the shop. Baby, what time do you think you will be home and I will have dinner ready?"

Damn she spoiled him, so help me to goodness, if she says she will fix his bath and wash him, I will kill myself, I won't be able to take it. I didn't know Ranger was capable of making googly eyes, man he had it bad.

"Santos, take my car back to Rangeman, I am going with Christy back to the house."

Somebody just kill me now, Ranger was blowing off work to go with Christy. I guessed hell really had froze over.

I drove the turbo back to Rangeman and returned to my office. The moment I noticed the stack of papers had grown on my desk I swore. Slowly, I started going through them, asshole, it dawned on me, Ranger had given me his paperwork. Bitching and moaning would do me no good, so I continued working on them. I worked down to the last ten pages of his papers when I came across an email from Stephanie and Ranger's reply.

I know what you are thinking, hell yes I read it. I. was. nosy.

_Hey Ranger,_

_I won't take up much of your time. I heard you have moved on and I think that is great, Kayla and I are doing good. Just wanted to let you know, I am going to be in town around the time of the party and thought I would stop to talk to you. _

_See you soon,_

_Stephanie_

_Hey Stephanie,_

_Glad to hear you are doing good. Yes, I have moved on, I have a mission planned in a few weeks, when I get back, I plan on asking Christy to marry me. I always loved you, but I have found that I am **in **love with Christy, she is a light for me. Please do **not** come to the party she will be there and I am making new memories with her in our new home. _

_R_

This was going to be bad, I knew it. Stephanie had never done what Ranger asked, if she had, she would never have gotten herself in some of the messes Ranger had to bail her out of. I would talk to Ranger and see what he was going to do to keep a fiasco that was bound to happen from happening.

Before going home for the evening, I finished the paperwork Ranger left me and thought to myself what a lucky asshole he was. She was everything I wanted in a woman and I was jealous of Ranger. I hatched my own plan to implement while he was gone on this mission, I would woo her and romance the hell out of her and take her from him. His sick mind wanted a threesome with her because she had fantasized about it even though she told him it was not going to happen.

The next morning, I got to the office a little earlier than usual, Ranger and I both pulled in the garage at the same time.

After he got out of her car I said, "We need to talk."

" About."

" Stephanie," I could do like him and give one word answers.

" What about Stephanie?"

" In the papers you put on my desk yesterday, by the way, thanks asshole, there was an email from her with your reply. You know she is going to show up. She doesn't do things you ask. What is the game plan?"

" See what she has to say for herself since I asked her not to come."

" What about Christy and her feelings over Steph showing up uninvited?"

" You saw the way she handled Hector, she can handle Steph."

" Ranger, that is a dumb-ass answer and you know it."

We walked in the conference room in time for the meeting. It wasn't a long meeting basically just telling everybody who was going to be on what stake-out with who and for how long and Ranger telling Woody and Hal that they were going to Christy's today so she could show them where everything was and explained the rotation of farm duties.

" We need to have a plan for this upcoming disaster that _will _happen if you do not take steps to prevent it. We will talk more when you get back from Christy's," I said to Ranger's retreating back.

I had a shift on monitors starting right after the meeting, fun city. Relief for Chet came in the form of me, he was glad to see me, he hated monitors like everybody else. He practically ran from the area, then I saw why, Lula was at the front desk.

When she showed up it was never pretty, and today was no exception. She was demanding to speak to Batman. Nobody wanted to deal with her when she was on a roll and it always fell to someone on monitors to go talk to her. It was like when you were on shit detail, you got all the shit, between Hector and I, I drew the short straw.

" Hey Lula, what's up?"

" I want to talk to Batman. What's the big idea of him telling white girl not to come to the Rangeman party?"

" Lula, he has moved on just like Steph, the house is Ranger and Christy's, he is not going to allow Christy to be uncomfortable in their beach house."

" He's got no right to tell Steph she can't come, all the guys love her."

" She is not to be there. Lula, Tank can talk to you more about this later."

I turned to leave, "She will be there." There was no doubt in my mind Lula would tell her to come. It was going to be ugly, with a capital u.

A short time later I heard Ranger on the command floor, "We need to talk now."

We walked into his office and I shut the door, "We are about to have a huge problem, Lula was here today wanting to know why you told Steph not to come to the party. I have a sick feeling she will tell Steph to come anyway."

" What did you tell Lula?"

" The house was yours and Christy's beach house and Steph needed to stay away. You would not want Christy to be uncomfortable in your own home."

" Good then it is handled. Dismissed."

I shook my head and left his office, I couldn't understand for the life of me why he was putting his head in the sand over this. More consideration was needed for Christy, I would have to think about giving her a heads up of what might happen at the party, she deserved to know what she might find herself up against. I sent her a text inviting her to lunch with me alone.

She agreed.

Around noon I left to go to lunch, Christy was to meet me at Pino's. When I arrived, she was there waiting. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me that Ranger had tried to get her to go with him to lunch and seemed unhappy that she turned him down saying she had a prior engagement.

We got a table in the back and ordered. I figured we would not have much time before he showed up, since I had a Rangeman vehicle. I wasn't sure if he had put a tracker on any of her vehicles, but I suspected he had knowing him. Cutting right to the chase I let her know why I had invited her out to lunch.

"Christy, I wanted you to know, I expect Stephanie to show up at the party. She had sent an email to Ranger basically wanting to come, he told her to stay away. However, Steph has a tendency not to do as asked, plus Lula was by wanting to know why he did not want her to come. That situation I had to deal with. He is just not worried about it, but I thought you deserved a heads up. Please don't mention to him that you know, he will kill me."

" Les, I won't say a word and thank you for telling me. I would not have been happy not to have had a heads up, but this way, I can be mentally prepared."

No more time for conversation was to be had on the subject before Ranger came strolling in. He came over and kissed her then sat beside her.

" Thought I might find you both here. Santos, you trying to take over my woman?"

" Nope, we happen to meet here, she was here and I joined her."

We had basic chit chat during lunch, come to find out, Ranger had Tank drop him off, so he was riding back with either me or Christy.

Christy asked him what his plans were for the afternoon. "I thought I might come home early and spend some time with you."

" Did you leave me all of your paperwork again?" I asked with a really snotty attitude.

" No, I am caught up at the moment, besides that is no way to act when you will have Christy all to yourself in a few weeks after I leave."

Christy's mouth was open and disbelief across her face, "Excuse me?! I am sitting right here. Remember I said last night nothing's going to happen. Sorry Les."

I shrugged my shoulders, it wasn't the first time I had been turned down, but hopefully it was the last, I doubt she was done with him however. Mentally I counted from five down.

On cue, "I cannot believe you said that, what the hell is wrong with you Ranger?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Well, I am going to be gone a long while, you might change your mind."

Christy looked at him and sighed, the frustration clear on her face. "Quit with the eyebrow shit that doesn't work with me. I have been a long while without and I can go three to six months again. I'm tired of you treating me like a piece of meat that you pass around to your staff so stop it once and for all."

Ranger's blank face slammed into place, "I am just reminding you, you have options, no you are not a piece of meat. That is not what I meant."

Fumes were coming out of her ears, she was pissed. I think he may be riding back to the office with me and staying on seven alone tonight.


	15. Chapter 15

**Not mine, just borrowing them. Thank you MyMerryMen for you help.**

Starting over After Failure

Chapter 15

Christy's POV

After lunch Carlos came home with me, I had a little bit of work to finish at the shop. I felt pleased with myself that I set Hector in his place and he knew that the derogatory name calling was not acceptable. Somehow, I doubt we will be on each others Christmas lists. I had received the results of some test I had run on the guys and needed to go over them immediately.

I ran random drug test on the guys from time to time. This time, Derrick failed. I had a couple choices to make, I could dismiss him or send him for rehab, I usually gave them one chance and send them to rehab at my expense. Luckily for Derrick, this was his first failure, so I called him into the office. Upon his arrival, I explained to him what had happened and gave him his choices. Obviously he liked his job and opted to go to rehab. Like with the others in the past, I had him sign a contract stating that he understood what he was choosing to do and if he failed another test he would be dismissed immediately. The contract also advised him of the start date at rehab in one week.

Carlos came in my office after I finished with Derrick, I apologized to him for the delay, but I needed to handle that immediately and it could not wait.

" That is something I love about you, you are willing to give second chances. With drugs, I have no sympathy they are out. You send them to rehab first. How many have you had to dismiss later?"

" Zero, I make sure they understand it is a one shot deal and most of them like what they do. These guys have invested their time and money to go to school, learn the trade and enjoy the work they do. They don't screw up again. What kind of policy do you have?"

" Zero tolerance. Mess with drugs and you are out after the first time. Over the years I have lost a couple but that has been it. Since most of my guys have military experience, they leave drugs alone to begin with. What else do you have left to do?"

" Farm chores, wanna help?" I waggled my eyebrows at him. Yeesh, Lester was rubbing off on me.

Then the most bazaar words I have ever heard came out of his mouth, "Why don't I do farm chores while you work on dinner?" Yes you heard right.

I nodded so fast I was lucky I did not get whiplash. Eric was the only one to offer to help me in the past. "Deal."

He had not been in the house since he left for work so he did not know I had put chicken stew on to cook this morning, it was a matter of going in the house and ladling it out. It was a little hot for a stew, but it was a new recipe that I wanted to try and then maybe preserve for the guys to have in the winter. It smelled wonderful in the house, I check on it and then went to fold our laundry. Carlos came in a little while later with gobs of veggies and eggs.

" Dios, that smells good. What is it?"

I told him, and then fessed up about it cooking all day, but that I did have things to do like laundry and that I had also taken time to run the vacuum cleaner.

" So you tricked me into working outside for you?"

" No, I stirred the stew when I came in. There was just not a lot else to do to it. Plus I put up _your_ clothes."

By this time he had an evil smirk on his face and was stalking towards me, I knew what was coming. Yep, he attacked me kissing me up and down the neck then nipping my neck along the same path, he was in a playful mood this evening. I knew why, he wanted as many memories as he could get to take with him when he left, I wanted them too.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him, the closer it got to him leaving the more I knew I would deeply miss him. Lester had told me the other day that Carlos had changed a lot in just the short time we had been together, he was laughing more and the staff could get by with a little more than when he was alone and a bear to be around.

He sat me on the counter so we were eye to eye, "You are going to miss me while I am gone," he said it not as a question but as a statement.

" I was just thinking the same thing, but at least I mentally have time to prepare."

" Emotionally, you will need Lester, please do not be afraid to lean on him."

" I know, but I am going to do it on my own. Just relying on other people bothers me."

" You have your staff you rely on, they will support you too, I am sure."

He spread my legs so he could step up between them and get closer to me. With my head buried in his chest I nodded in agreement, but kept silent. After our little exchange I felt misty eyed and did not trust myself not to fully cry. I was going to miss him like hell. It was not just going to be hard, but really difficult to get along without him. Maybe it would help for me to come up with ideas to keep my mind busy and off of missing him. We had grown close over the last few weeks. I could see myself settling down with him, not necessarily any children but at least the pleasure of being with him on a permanent basis.

" Have you ever thought about us maybe getting married?"

I sat there stunned, "I...I...I had not thought a lot about it to be truthful. It had crossed my mind, but nothing serious other than I thought it might be nice."

He smiled but said nothing more. I could see him thinking but I thought I should wait and see what was going on in that mind of his. Finally, he spoke, "I am not asking now, but think about the possibility."

Then it was my turn to smile, "I will." I most certainly would be thinking about it.

He sat me down off the counter so we could fix our bowls of stew. It was delicious, I could see us and the guys enjoying it on a cold winter day. There was a project for me while he was gone, I could see several batches needing to be made before winter. It was a keeper of a recipe.

That night we made sweet memories several times for both of us.

The next morning we talked about our plans for the day over breakfast, we both had a full day ahead of us. I told him I would see him this evening. Part of my master plan for the day had been to take some of the stew over to the shop for the guys to try and get approval from them to make it for the winter.

I was surprised to say the least when I received a text from Lester inviting me to lunch at Pino's. We met and sat in the back. He told me what he had found out and wanted to let me know. I was glad he did and thanked him. That was the end of our conversation on the subject of Stephanie because about that time Ranger walked in.

Lunch was going great until Ranger opened his mouth then came a downward spiral, some of the things he said made my blood boil. We had, what I thought was a clear discussion on my fantasy, _not going to happen, _but then he makes some comment to Lester about me being Lester's after he was gone.

When he was done telling me I had options, I decided my first option was to head on back to the shop and beat the hell out of a fender. I finished my soda, casually moved my chair back and stood to leave. To stay out of Ranger's reach, I walked around behind Lester to leave. Before leaving I threw ten dollars on the table to cover my part, and thanked Lester for his company. I'd be damned if I would acknowledge Ranger at the moment.

I made it to the car and got off the lot as quickly as possible, I was not going to allow him time to get out to the car. Luckily, the full staff was at the shop, so if Ranger showed up, I would not be on my own. My staff would protect me not that I thought he would be violent, but I just didn't want to be around him at the moment. Fortunately, he didn't show up.

Hopefully, if he showed up at home tonight, he would be a different man, I didn't care for this Ranger persona, I preferred Carlos. I wondered if this change had anything to do with Stephanie, he was certainly a different man since the email thing. The changes I was seeing started after the email was replied to according to Lester, It also made me fear that if she showed up he would run to her and forget me. Damn old insecurities. If that was the case, I would leave quietly. I wouldn't be second to anybody. It was something I didn't deserve.

For the first time in a long time, I was unsure of myself. The last time was when Alex was killed and I had to wade through being a widow, being unsure of myself in that situation was very understandable. I guessed now was too.

He did call later and made a feeble attempt at an apology, but didn't say if he would be home or if he was staying at his place. I wasn't sure at this point I cared, his words had hurt me severely. Never in my life had I felt so cheap or unwanted as I did then.

Around midnight, I heard him come in. He stripped off his clothes and came to bed, I had my back to him and I stayed that way. Eventually he spooned into me and I allowed it, part of me wished he had just stayed away for the night.

When I woke the next morning he was gone and that was fine by me. I made it to the kitchen after my shower and getting dressed, there was a note and flowers.

_I am sorry. Carlos _

Well why did he have to be an ass to start with, I wondered. Somehow I got the feeling he was doing it to push me towards Lester to draw closer to him, regardless, it was not what I wanted. Don't get me wrong, another place, another time I would have been all over Lester, but I had met and fell for Carlos.

Later in the day, Carlos called, I knew it was Carlos because this man was sweet and loving on the phone. Talk about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you just never knew who was going to show up. When we were alone most of the time it was Carlos, but nine times out of ten in a group or with just Lester added he was Ranger.

One thing Carlos did say in his phone call was that he would not be over this evening, that hurt me because I wanted to talk to him see him and try to gauge his mental state. Maybe I needed to talk to Lester about his sudden change or if this had always been just below the surface. The other possibility was he indeed was pushing me towards Lester.

I called Lester and asked him to grab lunch and come to the shop. He readily agreed to come over about lunchtime.

When he arrived a short time later in his personal vehicle so no trackers, he had brought burgers and fries, it hit the spot. Not beating around the bush I asked him if it was possible that Stephanie's email was the problem or was there something else going on in his opinion.

" I think it is a combination of things, the start of it was her email, that is when I noticed the changes. He also has it in his head about the threesome thing, and I know you say it is only a fantasy. There are times he is bull headed about things and won't let them go. Deep down, I feel that he really doesn't want to go on this mission but the money is too good to pass up."

" Is it because he is not sure he can do it?"

" Nope, he doesn't want to be away from you, he is scared he will lose you while he is gone. When he returns he knows I would step aside, another man may not."

" Hypothetical question: If we got involved, when he returned could you let me go, would you want to let me go?"

" I don't know, there is a good chance that no, I wouldn't and couldn't let you go. Christy, I love you as much as he does."

" Sorry we didn't meet sooner, or I had met you before him. My love for you is different than my love for him, you do understand that correct.?"

He nodded his head yes that he understood. I could also see on his face he wanted to give us a chance while Carlos was gone, something I wasn't sure I could do.

As we finished lunch we joked and talked about life in general, it was fun and relaxing I was finally getting to see another side to Lester. Once finished with lunch I took him out to the shop to show him the different projects that were going on, I showed him the Cuda that had been at the house when we first met, it was almost done.

" Decisions, decisions, decisions, I don't know if I can sell it or if it is going in my personal collection. Big difference in when you first saw it."

" Huge difference, it is beautiful."

I thanked him for the complement on the car, the guys had put a lot of hard work into restoring it to its former glory. He looked at some of the other cars the crew was working on and commented on a couple of them before we walked back to the office. I joined him on the couch in my office after I closed the door so we could talk more in private.

I was glad we had a chance to really talk without Carlos being around, it gave both of us a chance to get to know one another. I found Lester to be funny and quite entertaining, very easy to talk to and found he listened to what I had to say. One thing for certain, he was not just eye candy, the man was smart, very smart. Another thing he loved to gossip, he told me all the gossip that had gone on in the office in the last few days. Apparently, Hector and Manny took off for parts unknown after mine and Hector's lunch the other day for some R&amp;R. Then he brought me up to date on what was going on with Tank and Lula, Rich, Bobby and some of the others I didn't know. Now I had to hope he would keep his mouth shut. Since I wasn't a conquest, it wasn't gossip worthy.

Before he left, I thanked him for lunch and the chance to get to know him better. He said he was glad to get to know me better, we agreed this meeting would stay between us, no gossiping, and we had found we could be good friends.


	16. Chapter 16

**Not mine, just playing. Thank you MyMerryMen for your editing.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 16

Ranger/Carlos' POV

I checked to see where Lester was at lunch time, his tracker put him at Christy's, good, my plan was working. Being the ass that I had been as of late, I put a tracker on his personal car, too, so I could keep tabs on him. It bothered me to be an ass to her but for my own peace of mind I needed her to rely on Lester while I was gone. I knew it was a shitty way to do things but it had to be this way, she was going to have a hard time and I knew it. Lester never let on that he knew my plan, but I was sure he suspected it was what I was doing.

I did not really want his hands on her, but in his shoes, I would put the moves on her not five minutes after I was gone. He needed a light as much as me although you would never know it with his personality, but that was how he dealt with the things he had been through.

When we were alone, Carlos was the man she saw, he was the man I wanted her to see, I loved her and still planned on marrying her after I got back if she would still have me. Worshiping her was one thing I enjoyed, but just being with her, enjoying her company and humor was my favorite. The light she brought into my world after Stephanie left, had been amazing. I was glad I had let her in and not tried to make her the one night stand I had planned.

Originally, I had told her I would not be over this evening, I wanted to give her time to cool off and let her decide if she still wanted to be with me after the way I had been behaving. But, I decided I would call her and offer to take her out to dinner, be Carlos this evening. Before I could even pick up my phone, it started ringing. Great Lester.

"Yo."

"You are an idiot."

"Nice to hear from you too. How am I an idiot?"

"She is questioning everything, she has not said a lot, just asked a few questions of me. She thinks you have a split personality and after listening to her, she might be right."

"Santos, you know what I am doing."

"Yeah, I do, fucking yourself. Keep it up, and by the time you get back, I will have a ring on her finger."

"I suggest you do not, if you want to live."

"Then get your head out of your ass. Ranger."

CLICK!

He hung up on me, NOBODY hangs up on me. I could not hand him his ass on the mats for speaking the truth. Somehow, I needed to make it right with Christy. I looked at my phone then called her.

She answered on the second ring, I could tell she was waiting to see if she had Ranger or Carlos, I made sure she heard Carlos.

"Precious, I am sorry I have been such an ass, my plans have changed, would it be possible to take you out to dinner this evening?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone and I feared she had hung up, "I want to ask you a question, actually a couple: One, who all is going to be there, just me and you or us plus others? The second, am I going with Carlos or Ranger?"

Ouch. I sighed, something I never do, "You are going out with just Carlos tonight, I want to spend some time with you away from the house and the crew. Can I pick you up around seven?"

"Sure, we will try. I think we need to talk."

I was going to have my balls handed to me tonight, I saw how she handled Hector, the teardrop tats had not even phase her. She had to of seen them, she was looking him square in the eye. If I was going to survive this, I needed to have an excellent plan, it started with more flowers, roses this time and jewelry. Thinking back to Stephanie I would cringe when she would say _I need to go shopping and now I am the one uttering those words. _A ring was not on the list but maybe a necklace or an ankle bracelet, something she could wear at work and not worry about it getting damaged.

As I left the office, I told Tank that I would be back later, I slid in the driver seat of my new Dodge truck. I know, I know, she had that much influence over me, I switched from Ford to Dodge. It was a wicked looking truck, she had helped me pick it out and get the accessories for it, not that I needed help, but it made her feel good, so I let her. Actually, she had excellent taste in many things, trucks, cars, property, men.

I went to the jewelry store I had used for years, the family came from Cuba when my grandparents did, now their grandson operates the business. There were a few ideas floating around in my mind of what I wanted to get her, so I looked to see if they had what I wanted or if something else would catch my eye.

She had mentioned she liked the Open Heart collection by Jane Seymour. I found what I had in mind for her. It was a fourteen carat white gold necklace with one carat total diamonds around the hearts.

I spotted a ring that I liked and wanted to get for her even though I knew she could not wear it at work, I could put a ring on her finger so she would not forget the promise I made to her. It was also part of the Open Heart collection but it was only ten carat white gold with diamonds, rather than putting it on her left hand, I was getting it for her right, the engagement ring I wanted to get her would have its own finger and she could continue wearing this one later on if she chose. Obviously, I had changed my mind about the ring business.

Marco's wife Sierra, wrapped both pieces for me while I paid for them. First step completed in 'Operation Carlos saves his own ass'.

Next stop was for flowers, afterwards, I went back to Rangeman to clean up and get dressed. I had not decided on where to take Christy but I was thinking about Cafe' Antonio it was small but very nice.

Once I was showered, I called the restaurant and was able to get a reservation for tonight, after the way I had been I needed to do everything right. I left in the truck and drove straight to her house. It was a beautiful night, I thought maybe we would take her car and put the top down.

I knocked on the door, when she answered she took my breath away. She had on a pale yellow sleeveless dress that came just below her knees, and white flat sandals. Such a simple outfit, looked amazing on her, it helped that she was smiling and not giving me the evil eye.

Since she did not have on any jewelry I handed her the box with the necklace, she looked at me before opening it. Her face lit up at the sight of the necklace, I knew I had done well. She held her hair out of the way while I put the necklace on her, it fell midway of her chest. Perfect if she was working because it would stay tucked in under her shirt and not be a hazard. The ring, I had decided to wait until the party where I could say a few words to her, it would give me time to come up with the perfect words to say.

I was not sure if all was forgiven but I thought I made it out of the dog house at least. Time would tell. I could tell she loved the necklace with the way she would reach up and touch it.

With the flowers in the vase, I escorted her to the garage door and into the car. She thought taking the convertible was a great idea. I put the top down and backed out of the garage, once on the road, I took her hand and held it on the drive. Upon our arrival at the restaurant, I parked and helped her out of the car. Before letting her move away, I gave her the most tender kiss I could.

Thinking back on it, I wondered who would miss who the most while I was gone, she would have Lester and her crew at the shop, I would have the team with me. She was certainly going to have the better support staff. As much as I wanted to get in and get out of Colombia and back to her, I knew sloppy got you killed.

Dinner was outstanding, I am not sure if it was the food or the company, maybe it was both. We both had the New York Strip with a salad, she had a baked potato while I had steamed broccoli. I had another place in mind for dessert, one of her favorite desserts was a Dairy Queen Blizzard, chocolate chip cookie dough to be exact. I took us on a little drive around the country side while going back to Trenton so our food could settle before going to DQ.

It was a beautiful night for a drive with the top down, we stopped at DQ and got our Blizzards, yes the temple had the night off. We walked back outside to sit at one of the tables.

"Do you like your necklace?"

"Baby you did great, I love it."

"Please wear it and think of me."

I leaned over to kiss her, but before I did, I licked her bottom lip to get the ice cream off of it, she giggled at my actions. She loved ice cream about as much as Steph had loved cake. Watching her, I could feel my emotions racing in my body, the biggest being love.

Hoping that the next part of 'Operation Carlos saves his own ass' would be a success I took her to the park, I planned on a quiet walk around the lake at the park just looking at the stars and holding hands, I had been told women liked this type thing, so I was game. I needed to do something to repair the damage I had done being an ass, and I had been a big ass.

We were alone in the park, the path that went around the lake was lit, but not super bright, it was romantic lighting as some would say. The only conversation we were having at the moment was idle chit chat about our day, it was pleasant. I asked her again if she liked her necklace, she smiled, touched it and said very much so. I was relieved that she loved it and I had chosen well.

There was a park bench that we sat on overlooking the lake, I put my arm around her and she snuggled into it. While rubbing circles on her arm, I noticed she was quiet and staring at the lake, hopefully she was thinking she loved me and not that she wanted to kill me.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Why you are an ass when we are with others and this loving, caring and gentle man when we are alone."

And here it comes my balls, "It is just my nature sometimes."

"Well it sucks. Baby I love you but I can't do Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde any longer."

Mentally, I sighed, I had been a really big ass if she was using that analogy, "Precious, I am sorry I have been behaving the way I have, I love you. I am just getting stressed about leaving you, I do not want to go, but since I have agreed and signed the paperwork, I have to." Mostly the truth, I thought, in the past I had never gotten super stressed about a mission. This time however, I was.

"I love you too. I know you have to go, and no, I do not want you to go either. For the other expansions you have in mind have you considered a silent partner?"

"Yes and no. I had them before and I bought them out, Rangeman is mine lock, stock and barrel. No, I do not want to go back there again."

"Not even if the partner would someday be your wife if you ask her."

"I could not take your money."

"You would not be, I would be a partner, just in more ways than one."

"Let's get through what is on our plate now, then later we will talk about it."

I stood took her hand to help her up, before walking further, I turned her to face me then kissed her, "I appreciate the offer."

We walked slowly on around the lake, she moved to put her arm around me, likewise, I put my arm around her. I might have made it out of the dog house and back in the house. When we made it back to our starting point, I sat back down on another bench and pulled her in my lap. I nuzzled her neck then lightly nipped it, she giggled at the touches on her neck. It never got old hearing her laugh and giggle.

"The party is right around the corner, are you ready?"

"Yes Precious, I am ready. I hope Manny and Hector make it back in time for the party, they asked for a few days off to have some R&amp;R before leaving on the mission. Hopefully we can take some R&amp;R before I leave, just the two of us."

I kissed and nuzzled around on Christy some more before we left the park. Opening the door and getting her buckled in was something I used to do for Stephanie, I needed to make sure I did it for the woman I was going to claim for a wife. The drive back to the house was short, I pulled into the garage and put the top up on the car. All in all this had been a perfect evening. The rest of the night was spent making love to the woman I wanted for the rest of our lives.


	17. Chapter 17

**Not mine just playing. Thank you MyMerryMen for your help. Thank you Ojjacob for a couple of ideas.  
**  
Starting over After Failure

Chapter 17

Manny's POV

Hector and I had requested a few days off. We had twelve days before the Rangeman party and nineteen before we left for the mission. Hector and I had told Ranger we wanted to do some R&amp;R before the mission, but really we wanted to go see Stephanie. She had called and hoped we could get some time off to come see her before we left for six months, just in case she didn't make it back to Trenton before then.

On the plane, Hector told me a little about the experiment Steph had been running. She had reached a point where she felt Ranger and Joe had been jerking her around and leading her on. We all knew Joe was not the right man for her, then again with the boss' actions, he really wasn't either. She told them she was in love with a woman and was moving to California with her. The woman was really her cousin, Kayla Plumineri.

None of us except Hector knew the whole story, she had only confided in him, in return he helped her come up with the changing teams idea.

I was glad to hear that she really had not changed teams. Thinking I didn't stand a chance with her, I kept the feelings I had for her buried deep inside. I had been in love with Stephanie since the day she said she was my wife at the hospital. I had to admit I always loved the sound of Wifey and Hubs. It would not have bothered me to make her my wife legally. Hector said Stephanie would have to be the one to tell me the rest of the story. I smiled to myself and decided I needed to be working on a plan.

Our flight arrived at the Oakland California airport, we walked to the baggage claim and found Stephanie waiting on us. She flew into Hector's waiting arms and hugged him for all she was worth, then did the same to me.

While still holding her in my arms, not quite ready to let her go, I told her, "Wifey! You are looking great!"

"Hubs! Not looking too shabby yourself."

We walked out of baggage claim then over to her SUV. Steph had to have the worst parking karma ever. She was in the last row, last spot in the short term area. Hector volunteered to drive while Steph told me what had happened. She programmed in her address to the GPS, then got in the back seat with me so we could talk face to face, without one of us being turned around in the front seat.

On the way to her apartment, we made tentative plans for the three of us to go to a club for the evening, it sounded like fun. The nicest part, there were no crazies after her here, so Hector and I would not have to be on guard all evening.

"Talk to me, wifey, tell me what is going on."

She took my hand I presumed for her own comfort before starting to speak, "Manny, please don't tell Ranger or Joe, I never changed teams. Kayla, is my cousin, she was moving out here and wanted a roommate for a while. Things were not going well between either one of the men and myself, so I decided to try a little experiment, to prove to myself either that they cared or didn't care. I told both of them that I loved Kayla and that we wanted to make a life here, I had hoped that one of them would beg me to stay or come after me. Neither one made any attempt, Joe called after I had been here a couple of weeks, to tell me he would take me back if I chose to come home, but he never really asked or even said he was going to come visit to talk some sense into me. Ranger tried to call once, but that was after he had hooked up with Christy and started a relationship with her, Hector told me about his womanizing and drinking binges, I thought if he had time for that he could have come to see me to try to talk me into going back home. It proved to me that neither man truly loved me. Now, I have eight months under my belt away from them, and managed to get them out of my system. I can move on and try to have a healthy relationship, no more triangle crap. I have decent paying job, a car that I have had for eight months without blowing up and have learned to stand on my own two feet, I even have my own apartment now."

"I agree neither man was good for you, both relationships were toxic. While I am here could we maybe go out to dinner, tonight or tomorrow night, just the two of us? Sorry Hec." I looked at her, "Man I am glad I am here," and pulled her in for another hug. At that moment, all I wanted to do was hold her or touch her in some way.

I was pleased when she looked up at me and smiled then even more pleased when she spoke, "Yes, we can go tonight, our plans had not been confirmed for the club anyway, we can move it to tomorrow night."

In the rear view mirror, I saw Hector smile.

"Okay, since this is your town, you choose and tell me how to dress."

"How about sushi? There is a great little sushi restaurant not far from the apartment, we could take a nice walk before going there, plus we can dress casual."

I smiled at her, "Deal."

The rest of the ride back to her apartment, I held her hand while she talked about her job, the apartment, her neighbors and about her being home sick. She really caught my attention when she mentioned being homesick, I knew many of the men missed her and her antics. I needed to play my cards right I wanted this beautiful woman for myself, I knew full good and well that if she came back to Trenton there would be a mile long line of men waiting to take her out and the chance to make her theirs. I wanted Stephanie in my life and would do whatever it took to make her mine. I was not going to play stupid games like that cop or the dumb-ass boss of mine, they truly fucked up and deserved losing her.

We arrived at her apartment a short time later, I got out of the SUV and helped her out. She pointed to the sushi restaurant down the street. Hector politely declined an offer to go with us, saying he knew this town and he wanted to go out dancing.

"Angelita, I would love to go but I think you and Manny have a few things you need to talk about. The three of us will go out tomorrow night, maybe I will have my own toy to bring along."

She smiled at him and in her own Stephanie fashion, kissed his teardrop tattoo and gave him a big hug before telling him to be careful. The two of them had formed such a great relationship, they were the best of friends and would lay down their lives for one another. If Hector was straight, no man on earth would stand a chance, I was thankful I got the opportunity to show and tell Stephanie how I felt about her.

Hector's POV

I had told Manny a little about Angelita's plan, but saved the majority for her to tell, after all it was her story. The flight was long but so worth it in my opinion, to see her in person and not just hear her voice made it all worthwhile. If I was straight, she would have been mine a long time ago, I may have to reconsider changing teams myself. Upon our arrival, we made it to baggage claim where she was waiting. Luckily, I saw what was going to happen and was ready for her, Dios she felt good in my arms I loved this woman with all my heart and soul, she was my sister.

Like I said it was her story to tell, but this is my part to tell you, the reader. In case you think I hate Christy, I don't. Ranger was not right for my Angelita, but I was still pissed at him. Unfortunately for Christy, I took it out on her. I also had to behave that way so Ranger would not get suspicious that I knew what was going on with Steph. In all actuality I think Christy is perfect for Ranger, I don't see her putting up with the bullshit Stephanie did from him. Condom instead of a ring, pffff, dumb-ass. So far, he was being a changed man, needless to say, I was impressed. Too bad he didn't show this side of himself to Stephanie but things all happened for a reason.

I listened to Steph tell Manny the whole story, well it was a little abbreviated but the whole story none of the less, I also watched Manny's reaction in the mirror. What I saw in that mirror was a man who realized he stood a chance to be with the woman he had loved for years. When we got to the apartment, it was a no brainer for me to decline going with them this evening, those two needed to talk. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him. I needed to ask her later if she did in fact have feelings for Manny, I was betting the answer was yes especially since she had asked me to bring him on this trip with me.

She told me I could use her SUV to go out since the restaurant they were going to was within walking distance. We went to her apartment to clean up from our traveling and to rest for a few minutes before going our separate ways for the evening.

Manny went in the bathroom to clean up first, I took that time to confirm my suspicions. Angelita told me that yes she had been thinking about him a lot over the last couple of months, but wanted to wait a little bit longer before asking him out here to see her.

"My Angel, he is yours for the taking, he talked about you for most of the flight. I'm confident he wants a relationship with you too. Are you still wanting to come back home with us? And is it for a visit or do we need to be renting a U-haul truck?"

She gave me a sheepish grin that told me all I needed to know, I would have to look for a U-haul truck or maybe just a trailer to rent. The guys would be thrilled to have her home, but who knew about Ranger.

I told her a little more about our mission in a few weeks, she wasn't surprised that Ranger took it, even with the money we would make, it would leave him with enough to open an office in DC.

"He has always been a smart business man, just not so smart when it came to our love life. Has he been in the wind since he has been with Christy?"

I shook my head no. "She has no clue then what she is in for? Who is her bodyguard?" Steph questioned.

"Les is her bodyguard, Woody and Hal help her on the farm a few hours a week, they love it, it gets them out of monitor duty. He has told her if the danger level goes up, Hal and Woody will also be bodyguards."

Steph shook her head, "Poor girl has no clue with Les, he is such a man-whore."

"Angelita, he doesn't act that way with her, he is in love with her just about as much as Ranger is. Les shows her nothing but respect."

She gave me a surprised look, "Respect, female and Les in the same sentence, talk about an oxymoron. Now, I really want to meet this woman."

As we finished up Manny came out of the bathroom, he had on a pair of blue jeans and a shirt that I knew was Steph's favorite.

"Ya know, I don't remember packing this shirt," Manny stated. "Who is next for the shower, I saved some hot water."

Steph volunteered to go next, once she was in the bathroom and I heard the shower come on I told Manny that I slipped the shirt in his bag, because I knew it was her fave. He thanked me since he didn't know she liked the shirt.

"She is definitely interested in you."

"How do you know that, what did you do ask her?"

I nodded my head and watched the smile spread across his face, "Manny, you need to claim her before we move her back. She wants to go home, and I think on your arm is the best place for her, you are good for each other and we know how the men will act when they see she is home and is no longer Ranger's Woman."

I laughed to myself as I watched Manny sweating bullets while waiting on Steph. Hal's blushing was nothing compared to what I was witnessing with Manny. When Stephanie emerged from the bathroom, she took his breath. She was wearing a summer dress that hit just below her knees showing off her tanned legs, cute little strappy sandals displaying her perfectly pedicured toes and very lightly applied makeup. She always looked beautiful but more so when wearing light make-up.

Stephanie's POV

I was excited to see the guys, especially Manny. Over the last couple of months, I had thought a lot about him, there were several of my Merry Men that I missed, but Hector and Manny the most. Hector told me that the words had no more left his mouth and Manny agreed to come out here. I was hoping that maybe he would want a relationship with me.

Hector told us we could go on to dinner if we wanted and he would lock up. I gave him a spare key so he could let himself back in tonight when he got home. Manny said it was up to me if we left now or after Hector was finished, I wanted to wait until Hector was ready to leave, I could tell him I would see him later and give him a hug. Through all of this experiment Hector had been there for me, he was my best friend.

We sat on the couch, holding hands and staring at each other, at that moment, I had Rangeman ESP. I could see in his eyes what he was thinking and yes, I wanted it too. A relationship.

Hector took a quick and probably cold shower, we had not given the hot water tank much of a break between showers and since he was last. Poor guy. I teased him and told him not to stay out all night, then hugged him and told him I would see him later. We all left at the same time but Manny and I would certainly be home before Hector.

Manny and I walked down the street to the restaurant, there was a short wait time before we were shown to our table. I had been here several times over the last few weeks, so I knew what I wanted, Manny on the other hand, took a few minutes.

The waiter came back to take our order, I had the cucumber salad to start and Manny had the seaweed salad. For the main course, I had coconut shrimp roll which had toasted macadamia nuts, mango, cucumber, cream cheese, rose nectar, soy paper in it. While Manny went with seafood ceviche it was made with shrimp, octopus, albacore, whitefish, avocado, cucumber, tomato, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, lime, wonton crisps. For dessert we split an ultimate fudge brownie served warm with vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate, caramel and vanilla cream sauce, it was sinful.

After we had finished eating, we were sitting at the table with a bit of awkward silence. We both knew the other wanted to say something but neither one of us was brave enough to start, finally he did.

"Wifey, I am glad you asked us to come out and see you. I know I have missed you and several of the other men have missed you too." I nodded my head in understanding, he was getting on a roll and I didn't want to interrupt him. "There is something I want to say and I know I will stumble with the words a little, but bear with me while I try. I am glad to learn that you had not changed teams. Learning what I did this afternoon, is spurring me to tell you how I feel and what I want. Steph, I care deeply for you, I have since you told the nurses you were my wife years ago, what I want to say is, Steph, I want a relationship with you, I want to be the man you love and want to be with."

My face lit up, he said what I was hoping he was going to say.

"Manny yes, I would love to try a relationship with you. After being here all these months, I finally feel free of the Ranger and Joe baggage and am ready for a new healthy relationship. I told Hector, I wanted to go home, he is looking into a U-haul truck or trailer to pull with my SUV the sooner the better. Moving and spending time with you before you leave are my priorities."

"What about your job?"

"I loved it, but the crisis center has already been looking for my replacement."

"So you were planning this all _along_?"

I gave him a sheepish look, and nodded, "I was hoping you felt the same way I did about being involved. In order to do that, I want and need to be in Trenton not California. You're not mad are you, since I fibbed a little on just wanting a visit?"

"Oh hell no. If you want to be with me, I'd move you ten times just to be with _you_."

He took my hand again and kissed the palm of it, smiling he asked if I was ready to leave and start packing. Oh yes, I was ready to pack and move _home_.


	18. Chapter 18

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 18

Still Steph's POV

Manny and I walked back to my apartment. As we got closer I noticed my Durango was parked back in its spot.

"Wonder what Hector is doing back already?" as I pointed at the SUV.

Manny just shrugged. We walked on into the apartment and what we found made us both smile. Hector was sitting on the floor assembling boxes to pack my stuff and make it ready to move.

"Angelita, I wanted to get started and get you home sooner." He stood up, "Hopefully, I am not interrupting anything."

I hugged him, "No, we were coming home to do the same thing. You guys and the ESP crap."

He had ten boxes ready to be filled, I grabbed a couple and went to my bedroom, no way was I letting them paw my underclothes. I left a couple sets of bras and panties out and packed the rest. Next I started on my closet, that would take forever, granted I didn't have as many clothes as when I lived in Trenton, but I had put a dent in the Macy's shoe department a few times.

With packing well underway, I smiled at the thought of being back home. I missed it, the dirty streets, the smells and sounds, hell I even missed Stark Street if that was possible. Mostly, I missed my friends and family, Rex had died shortly after I moved out here leaving me with only Kayla as a friend and the only person I knew. I had made some friends at work but it was really not the type place where a lifelong friend was made, they never wanted to go out since most of the staff was older and had children.

In my mind, I knew my actions and the lies that I had told made me look childish, and I would admit, I had been childish. But, I really didn't think I had much of a choice. If I had stayed in Trenton, I don't think I could have broken the cycle I was in. My head was messed up with both Ranger and Joe pulling at me. It was best if I got away. In all actuality the changing teams was the only way I felt I could make a clean break, it was also something that was going to take longer than a week or two. I had always heard it took six months for something to become a habit, so I guessed it would take six months to break a habit too. For me, it took about six months to get both of them off of my mind and start to think about other men along with myself. I hadn't gone out or let any other man in, I needed to cleanse myself so to speak. Now, I felt that I was ready to move on, have a healthy relationship and go home. My feelings for Manny had been there for a long time, in all actuality I should probably have never gotten involved with him since he worked for Rangeman, but like I said there had been feelings there.

Manny's POV

Hector had brought about twenty boxes back to start packing. I knew Wifey had packed four already. I was working in the living room and Hector had started packing the kitchen. It wouldn't take Hector long in the kitchen, since Steph didn't cook and therefore didn't have a lot of pots and pans to pack. She did have some nice glassware and Hector was taking care to wrap and pack it all securely. The items I had to pack in the living room were easy, the biggest thing was her DVD collection, she had gotten a whole lot more movies since she came out here, those practically filled two medium boxes alone.

Steph came back into the living room to get a couple more boxes, "Are you all making headway?"

Hector nodded, while I asked how many movies she was up to now in her collection.

She shrugged, "I have no clue, a bunch is all I can tell you."

I wanted to ask her where she was going to live once she got home. Her apartment building had been sold and converted into a senior assisted living facility. I knew Rangeman would be out, and I doubted she wanted to live with her parents. If she hadn't thought about it she needed to be. Lula would let her crash with her a couple of days and maybe Connie would let her stay a couple as well.

We had knocked out a great deal of the packing out tonight, but it was getting close to midnight when we stopped. Sleeping arrangements needed to be made. It really didn't take much, Hector was going to sleep in the spare bedroom and I was going to sleep with Steph.

I let Steph go first so she could get her spot in the bed and not be embarrassed about anything. Then I went second and crawled in the bed with her, she spooned into me in a heartbeat. I was a gentleman and wore a pair of sleep pants, I wrapped my arm around her waist and went to sleep. When we woke the next morning she was facing me with a leg thrown over mine and an arm around me, my arm was still around her. My morning wood was poking her in the belly. I thought to myself as I looked at her, she was beautiful and looked so peaceful sleeping, I closed my eyes not wanting this to end or to wake her.

A few minutes later I heard Hector peck on the bedroom door, he waited a moment and then opened the door. "I am going for coffee and breakfast."

I nodded and he closed the door behind himself. The clicking of the door was enough to cause Steph to stir.

"Good morning, Wifey."

She smiled, "Good morning, Hubs."

I kissed her on the forehead and she nestled down closer if possible, I also told her Hector was going for breakfast for all of us.

"Steph, I need to ask you something," she looked up at me waiting for me to continue. "Have you thought about where you are going to stay when you get back to Trenton?"

"Lula said I could stay with her for a couple days. Hopefully by then I will have found an apartment to rent, if not, I will have to go to my parents and that, I dread."

"You are welcome to stay at my house. I am going to be gone and it will sit there empty. Ha, you can house sit for me."

"How am I supposed to pay the bills on a house? I barely make it now and I don't have a job lined up yet to top it off."

"Calm down, everything is set up on an automatic draft."

"Manny, I can't do that. It would be creating more bills."

"Steph, the mortgage has to be paid whether anybody is staying there or not, utilities ditto, the only difference is food. You have to eat no matter where you are living."

After that I could see the gears turning, she was thinking if she had any other argument for me, deciding she didn't, she agreed.

When we got home, I would add her to my checking account so anything she needed she could get. Most people would think that was stupid on my part, but it's not. I had known her for years and know the type person she was, she would probably never use it, but I wanted it to be available if she needed it. One thing I didn't want was for her to have to go to someone like Santos not that he would take advantage of her, but I wanted her to be my responsibility. I also wanted to be able to think about her asleep in my bed waiting on me to return to her that thought alone put a smile on my face.

We had gotten up and made use of the facilities before Hector came back. As we ate breakfast we made our game plan for today. Steph was almost finished with her bedroom and the clothes, so she was going to finish that and do what dirty laundry we had. The living room was almost finished as well. Hector had finished the kitchen earlier this morning, he planned on starting in the spare bedroom after breakfast. He had looked at that room, it was mostly just knick-knacks in the room so he felt it would be easy to pack up quickly. We had an appointment to pick up a U-haul trailer at noon, she didn't need a very big trailer since the apartment had come furnished. The mattresses off of the beds were the only things of hers to move.

By 1130, we had everything packed and ready to go. She had kept out clothes to wear on the drive back and had them in a duffle bag ready to go along with her hair care stuff and make up. You could take a girl out of the 'burg, but you can't take the 'burg out of the girl.

When we came back we were able to get a spot near the entrance to her apartment, Hector backed the trailer in and we lowered the ramp when he had it parked. Steph went to talk to the apartment manager about the mattresses, he knew someone in the building that needed a new mattress and would let them know, he also knew about a family that had been burned out of their home and he would see to it that the other set made it to that family. We had come up with the plan that as soon as the last box was loaded we would split and grab a hotel room down the road. With the three of us working, it only took an hour to load all of her belongings. Steph went back to the manager again for a walk through; he gave her cash for her damage deposit.

We were Trenton bound. I called Tank, "We are on our way home. Got a little surprise for you."

I handed Steph the phone, "Hey big guy."

"Little girl is that you? You're coming home? I'll let everybody know."

"Tank, please don't. I don't want to face Ranger just yet, I've heard how he has been and I want to avoid him until I am settled."

"Little girl, I will keep it to myself for now. I presume Lula already knows."

"She does. I guess she has kept her mouth shut for the most part except she did say something to Lester."

"Sorry Steph, you know how she can be. See you in a few days."

She handed me back my phone then took my hand in hers. Hector stretched out across the back seat to take a nap, he was going to take over driving later. It took Wifey all of five minutes to be out like a light.

Tank's POV

I looked at the phone after I hung up, her coming back to Trenton was going to be one extreme or the other good or bad. Right now, my money was on bad. Personally, I don't think Ranger will leave Christy to go to Steph, but you never know with him, I have seen him do a lot of strange shit over the years.

At dinner, I would confirm with Lula what her plans were when Steph got here. Originally, she was going to stay with me, while Steph stayed at her place, which was fine with me, but that woman had changed her mind in the past. Well, so had Steph. I knew I hadn't gotten the whole story from either one on that phone call, when I talked to Hector later, I would ask, I didn't need or want any surprises.

I sat back in my chair and rubbed my bald head, Little Girl was coming home, I had to smile, it made me happy and I knew it made Lula happy too. She had missed her friend, so had I.


	19. Chapter 19

**Not mine. Thanks MyMerryMen for keeping me straight.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 19

Carlos' POV

I woke the next morning and removed myself from Christy. She had and arm and a leg wrapped around me, had she not been asleep, she would have been in the perfect position to help me with a 'morning problem'. But she was sleeping so peacefully, I could not bring myself to disturb her. Instead, I slipped my pillow back in her arms, and got ready for a run. I was hoping to make it back before she woke up and then I could wake her up my own way.

The run was uneventful and I managed to run six miles this morning. Yes, I said managed, it was hard to run when all I could do was think about Christy lying naked in the bed we shared.

When I got back, I went straight to the shower, lucky for me she was still asleep. I quickly showered and thought I would wake Precious up in a pleasurable way that she without a doubt would enjoy, coming out into the bedroom, I walked quietly to the bed. Somebody was playing opossum, I saw her fighting a grin for all she was worth. Rolling her on her back I attacked her neck with kisses and nipped her neck a couple times for good measure.

"Good morning you handsome devil."

"Good morning Precious."

I positioned myself over her, "What am I going to do with you?"

"I can think of a few things baby."

I flipped us over so she was on top of me and pulled her flat down on my body. The feeling of us touching from chest to feet felt heavenly. I loved doing that with her, but I wanted her on top I knew my weight would crush her. I wrapped my arms around her to keep her there, closing my eyes, I breathed in her scent, felt her breast against my chest, her sex against my quickly forming erection and her legs against mine. Without being in her, I felt this was the closest you could get to another human. I started rubbing circles on her back and talking to her in Spanish.

"You are my love, I hate to leave you, my prayer is that you will still love me when I come home. I know when I come back I will be a monster for a while, it is just the way a man like me is wired. Right now, I want you so bad, it hurts, hopefully the memories we make before I leave will help you remember me when I come back as an evil monster and you will come back to me. If not, I know that he will love you as much as I have and I will not stop him."

"What do you mean by evil monster?"

"Precious, you know what I do. Sometimes when I come home from a mission, my mind is still there until I can decompress. Christy, there have been times it has taken a month or two for me to be me again." I had her sit up before I continued, "I know you do not want to hear her name, but many times when I returned from missions, I went to Steph's and sat in her chair and watched her sleep, trying to decompress, I would never sleep with her when I was like that for fear I would hurt her. When I have been wound that tight for an extended period of time, I could not make love to her, nor would I be able to do the same to you, it would basically be raping you and that is not right or fair to you. I am letting you know if you see me that way, do not invite me into bed, I could hurt you unintentionally. Do you understand?"

"Not really, but I will take your word for it. Carlos, how will I know when you are you again?"

"Lester will tell you when I am safe. I hope that you trust me on this, you are the last person on earth I want to ever hurt. Actually, he will probably stay with you until I am alright."

"Enough talking, make love to me Carlos."

I gladly made love to her all morning, I made it to work about noon. I am not sure she ever made it out of bed, she was sated when I left. While I was driving into the office, I wondered if anybody had heard from Hector and Manny, they had been gone several days now. Hopefully, they were enjoying their R&amp;R, I was planning on taking my R&amp;R after the party and before we left. Christy and I were going to stay at the beach house, preferably in bed the whole time.

"Glad you could join us bossman," Tank teased.

"Good thing I know you are teasing otherwise I would take you to the mats."

I went on into my office and closed the door, a mountain of paperwork was piled on my desk. Wonder if I could put it on Santos' desk, I thought. I started wading through all of it, most was new contracts that needed confirmed. It was not long before there was a knock on my door, Bobby opened the door after I acknowledged him. He reminded me we needed to make sure all of the men were up to date on their vaccines for going into Colombia. Fortunately, he had everybody's files with him.

We went over them and as luck would have it, I was the only one who needed any. Thank goodness it was only tetanus that I needed. I walked down to the infirmary with him to go ahead and get it over with. He asked how Christy was doing and was she looking forward to the party. After my shot, we talked for a bit about the upcoming mission and some more about Christy. He was glad we were together and hoped nothing jeopardized our relationship.

I returned to my office to finish up the paperwork, paybacks were a bitch, and it looked like Lester had paid me back. The phone in his office went unanswered, the same with his cell. A call to Tank told me where he was, on a call. As I thumbed through the papers, I got less and less pissed, they were contracts that he had brought in over the last couple days, of course I had to get them. It was looking like I would never get back home to Christy.

Thinking about her, I instinctively dialed her number, she answered on the second ring.

"Hey baby, I was just thinking about you."

"Did you make it out of bed?" I teased.

"Finally, I had to put in an appearance at the shop, plus I was missing you."

"Want to go to dinner tonight, just me and you, maybe a picnic?"

"Where do you have in mind for this picnic?"

"On the farm somewhere, I will bring dinner, how about 1800?"

"What should I wear?"

"The less the better, in my opinion. We can take the truck down one of the haul roads."

"You are so ornery, I'll be ready. Talk to you later."

She hung up the phone, I smiled, talking to her for those few minutes made my afternoon. I also made sure she heard Carlos. More points for me, I hoped.

I had asked Ella to make dinner for us and what I was doing to give her an idea. Spaghetti or something like that would not make good picnic food. As usual she did not let me down, I had a basket full of chicken, potato salad and baked beans. I put the food along with a blanket in the truck and headed towards home.

On the way, I called Tank, "I am offline the rest of the evening, do not call me between 1800 and 2000, I am busy."

"Bet I know who you will be busy doing, enjoy your evening."

"How about we meet on the mats say 0700 in the morning?"

"See you then boss."

I disconnected before he made any other smartass comments, everybody was a comedian these days. Glad I was able to supply them with material. I made it home a few minutes later. When I went in the door, I heard her say she was in the bedroom. Walking in to the room, I saw her dressed in one of my dress shirts and nothing else.

"Should I wear this on our picnic?"

I knew there was a feral look in my eyes and I was not going to reply to that question. Instead, I picked her up and took off for the door, she had done as I suggested. In this case, less was indeed better.

I drove down one of the roads on the farm to a clearing, I parked the truck near an oak tree. While she waited in the truck while I spread out the blanket, then I came back to the truck and picked her up out of it. She wrapped her arms around my neck while I carried her to the blanket, I gently laid her down on it before joining her. I toed off my boots and sat them at the edge.

"You forgot the food."

"Right now you are the appetizer," I told her.

She had done well on picking out a dress shirt, she had gotten my favorite one.

"What made you choose this shirt?"

"I love to see you in it. If it is possible, you look even hotter when you wear it."

Since this shirt was apparently our favorite, I carefully undone the buttons. I thought to myself, she looked even hotter in it too. The woman was going to be the death of me. Slowly removing the shirt, I took in the sight of the woman before me.

"I love you, Precious."

"Carlos, I love you too."

I let my mouth claim hers in a long deep kiss. When we broke for air, I stripped my clothes off, and positioned myself over her. I entered her slowly as if I had all the time in the world and at that moment, I did. She was an amazing woman, at that time I had the ability to make her orgasm over and over again, basically at my will.

Christy could scream as loud as she wanted and nobody but me was going to hear her, I thought I could love this being out alone in the woods with just her. Too bad we could not have stayed out here all night.

We made love three times while we were out there, I am not sure how either one of us could move after this morning and then again this evening. When we were sated again, we packed up the blanket and went back to the house, after that, both of us was hungry for food but decided to scrap the picnic portion of our evening and eat it at the house.

Back at the house, Christy went to shower and I turned on a baseball game to listen to it while I heated up dinner and then while we ate. The Phillies were playing Atlanta. I had told Christy that I would fix both of us a plate for dinner. She made quick work of the shower, I had barely finished reheating the chicken when she came out. After we ate dinner, we walked back into the den to watch the ballgame while we ate dessert, sugar-free apple pie. Phillies were at bat when I noticed a couple behind home plate, both people looked familiar, the camera zoomed in on them while they were kissing. No fucking way.

I was not going to get a chance to talk to either one of the kissing couple for a couple days since I had to leave after getting to spar some with Tank in the morning for a trip to DC. It was going to be meetings, meetings and more meetings in regards to this upcoming mission.


	20. Chapter 20

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen for your help!**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter20

Still Carlos' POV

I met Tank on the mats the next morning as promised, we took it easy on each other, but ended with both of us getting a good workout. After we showered, I grabbed my bag and headed to my ride on the roof, Christy escorted me up there. I kissed her bye and told her I would call her if I got a chance but otherwise I would see her in a few days.

I hated leaving her. It had been worked out so Lester was going to stay with her while I was gone in case the cartel had gotten word I was coming. I knew Lester would stick to her like gum on the bottom of your shoe, luckily for him she loved him.

My flight was uneventful and as soon as I was off the helicopter I was ushered into the first meeting. These meetings were usually boring. This one was no different; this one was going over the targets. On this mission the target was the Sanchez cartel, they were an upcoming family who had set their sights on Miami. Miami had enough drugs without them adding more to it. I was given pictures for us to study of Jose Sanchez, his sons and their cousins, a total of five people to eliminate. After this meeting I had a lunch break, perfect time to call Precious.

"Hi Precious."

"Hi baby I was not expecting to hear from you so soon."

"Just a bit of a lunch break, did you and Santos make it home?"

"Yep, we took the Porsche back, it was due an oil change. I have it over at the shop after it cools, I will take care of it."

"Please do not change the oil, Ram usually works on the cars, plus I will lose my man card for that. You doing that is worse than when you drove us to Point Pleasant. Santos will take it away from me," I joked.

"Such whining, I will make Lester help me. When he can't find the oil plug and I point it out, he will lose his card along with you. Feel better?"

"You have already changed it, haven't you? And he could not find it, could he?"

Her evil laughter told me all I needed to know. She had already changed it. "Good to go for another three thousand miles."

"Gotta go Precious. I love you and thanks for taking care of the car."

"I love you too."

The rest of the day was spent in another long boring meeting that could have been handled via email, more pictures of the Sanchez cartel's activities or kills.

I knew what my crew had to do and make it look like. It was to look like a rival cartel had eliminated them no problem.

The next day was more of the same meetings that were as boring as hell, but I got through them thanks to being able to talk to Christy morning, noon and night. Finally it was time to get on the helicopter to take me back to her.

I arrived back at Rangeman at 1700 promptly, when I exited the helicopter she was waiting on me. She kissed me like I had been gone a month not that I was complaining, because I was not complaining at all. We went to the apartment on seven so I could rest for a few minutes. Well she and I will claim we rested a few minutes, that was my story and I am sticking to it.

The guys were going out to Shorty's and had asked us to come along with the guys from Christy's shop, they had played baseball earlier and were getting together. Somehow they had Shorty's rented for the night so it was closed to the public.

I was still dressed but instead of my cargo pants I decided to wear gym shorts, I usually never dress down except at the beach or at home but this evening it just felt right especially since the guys would also be dressed this way. Christy and I danced some and had some pizza. She drank Coke while I had a couple beers. We moved to a booth in the corner that was the Rangeman's usual spot, I put her straddling my lap.

"I missed you so much while I was gone," I whispered to her as my fingers slipped in the leg of her shorts and over to her wet folds.

"I missed you too. What are you doing?"

"Does it feel good?" I kissed her before allowing her to answer.

She jerked as I hit a sensitive spot, "A bit too good, what are you going to do if we get caught?"

"Nobody is going to say a word to us, watch this," I slid my short down enough to get my dick out and slid a condom on it. "Ever performed public sex?" I slid my dick around her shorts and into her core.

"When you cum you can scream into my mouth."

I had her in my lap pumping into her so nobody could tell what was going on, she must have been really turned on by it. I could feel her juices dripping down onto my balls it spurred me on to continue enjoying her even if there was a condom between us. It surprised me that she went along with it, I knew I could fondle her but never take her like this. Our excitement got to much for either one of us and we climaxed basically together.

She was beautiful when she would cum, "Precious, we will do that again in a little bit. I love watching you cum."

She excused herself to go to the restroom and took the used condom with her. When she came back I had her get back straddling me, I was not about to let her get out of that mood. We stayed in the corner having ourselves a heavy petting session, it did not take long before my dick was ready for her core again. I donned another condom to slide back in her.

Christy's POV

I tightened my arms around him, I needed him and what he was doing to me. Not all of it was solely because I was horny, but this was going to be an awesome memory. My thoughts were interrupted by Vince coming over to Ranger during our second round. His body stilled in me as he talked for a moment with Vince. I however, did not look up at Vince, if I had he would have known what Carlos and I were in the middle of doing. He moved just enough inside me to keep himself hard and me wet of course the excitement of getting caught kept me wet. Finally Ranger told Vince they would discuss it more tomorrow when he came in around noon, Vince agreed and left.

"Told you they would not say a word if they knew what we were doing."

I watched his eyes as he leisurely pumped in me he was in no hurry to finish, neither was I but all of that was about to change, we were going to be interrupted again and it was going to get ugly.

Vince's POV

I knew what the boss and Christy were doing in the booth, I had seen him do that before when we were gone on a couple missions. The fact he talked Christy into it surprised me. It was not for me to judge, hell if I had a woman, I would do the same thing if I wanted her. She was beautiful and perfect for him in more ways than just sex. I had heard she didn't put up with his bullshit, she called him out on it.

Christy's POV

We both stilled as we heard Lula come through the door, she had in tow none other than Stephanie Plum.

"Look who's back home, coming to claim her Batman. Where is Batman anyway?"

We heard Vince reply, "Over in the corner with Christy."

As Lula made a bee line towards us, I felt the heat radiating off of Ranger, his cock slid out of me and he pulled up his shorts while removing the condom.

"Batman, you can forget about that piece of trash, white girl is back."

Through gritted teeth I heard, "She is not trash." Surprisingly that voice sounded a lot like mine.

"Precious, I got this," Ranger said and stroked the side of my face. "Lula, this is a private party and you should not be here, neither should Stephanie. She made her choice and I made mine."

Then I heard another voice, "Lula what have you done? You said he wanted to see me. He has moved on, you should not have had me come here." As I listened I concluded that it must be Stephanie's.

She introduced herself to me and apologized for Lula's behavior, but she was glad to meet me. "I hope you are both happy. He is a good man."

Carlos gave me a kiss, "Please let me talk to her a minute and then we will go home if you want."

I nodded that it was okay and I would wait here. Lester walked over to join me. "He only has eyes for you now. It will be fine."

He put his arm around me and kissed me on top of the head. I knew he was right, I could tell by the kiss Carlos gave me she was out of luck.

"I know what you and he were doing, would you like for me to continue?" Les asked while waggling his eyebrows.

Had someone else said that to me I would have been totally embarrassed but not with Lester or at least not any more, after all we had spent the last several days together while Carlos was gone. Instead, I rolled my eyes.

CCCCCCCCCCCC

Carlos went to talk to Stephanie, he had no intentions of spending any longer than necessary with her, he had his woman waiting on him at his table. They were soon joined by Manny slipping his arm around Stephanie and kissed her hello.

"Why did you come here tonight?"

"Lula said you wanted to talk to me, I can see she either lied or was just totally mistaken. Plus I was supposed to meet Manny here." Diving straight in Stephanie asked, "Do you love her?"

"Very much so. She is everything to me. When I return from this mission, I am asking her to marry me."

"I know you had been out doing one night stands and drinking like a fish, that is something I would have expected from Joe not you. Is that where you met her?"

"No, I met her one day here and she would not give me the time of day. I saw her the next day in Point Pleasant, she paid for mine and Lester's lunch, left her phone number and we have been together ever since."

"How does she deal with your sick side or doesn't she know you have one?"

"She knows, she also knows it has stopped, Christy is who I want. Besides why are you worried about it? You changed teeaamm," he said as the light bulb came on in his mind. "Wait a minute, you were meeting Manny here? I saw you and him on television the other night, so you are an item?"

Both nodded yes. "Hector and I went to California to move her back. We decided to give us a chance."

"Ranger, I never really changed teams, the tugging and pulling became too much. I needed to make a clean break from you and Joe. It took me eight months to do so, and now I am ready to start anew. Hector and Manny moved me back from California, yes, Manny and I are going to give us a shot. You and Christy have nothing to fear from me."

"Then why was Lula behaving the way she was and what happened to Kayla?"

"She is clueless about Manny and me. Kayla is Kayla Plumerri, my cousin. I would like to talk to Christy if possible, she has to be special if you are going to marry her."

He led Steph and Manny back to the table that Christy had been sharing with him a few minutes before, "Christy, this is Stephanie, she wanted to meet the woman I plan on marrying. You remember Manny."

Christy extended her hand, "Nice to meet you." They all sat down at the table.

Stephanie replied, "Likewise, I am sorry for the way Lula behaved she has no idea that Manny and I are a couple or we are going to try for a relationship anyway. Christy you have nothing to fear from me. I hope you and I can be friends."

Christy thought to herself, the one that hurt him so bad wants to be friends with me, "We can try," came from her mouth. "So did you move back from California?"

"Yes, Hector and Manny came for a visit and moved me back home. I had really grown homesick."

A pitcher of beer was brought over to the table and another Coke for Christy. The women talked about different things and got along beautifully. Christy filled Stephanie in on her history and where she grew up. Steph told Christy about growing up in the 'burg. By the time Carlos and Christy were ready to leave the women had become instant friends.

"Precious, you ready to go home? I am tired it has been a long day for me," Carlos asked.

Christy nodded yes she was ready, she told Lester good night, kissed him on the cheek and they would see him tomorrow. Carlos and Christy stopped at the bar and told Shorty to send the bill to them and they would get it paid. He gave them a heads up that it was almost a thousand dollars already. Christy handed him a debit card to pay five hundred of it then, Carlos did likewise. On the way across the parking lot Carlos received a text from Manny.

_Steph says you did good, she is a keeper. _Carlos smiled.

Stephanie's appearance had been a mood killer for both of them, but Christy still wanted to talk to him tonight. The drive home was quiet, both of them reflecting on the events of the evening. Christy had really been enjoying herself with Carlos in the corner and would have probably gone third round with him later if things had not gone sideways, now she was just not in the mood.

Carlos was thinking about the same thing, it had been something new and definitely not something he would have done with Stephanie. With Christy, it was...fun, pleasurable, exciting the possibility of getting caught was a turn on for him. The guys probably knew what was going on but were not about to say anything. Unfortunately, the events with Stephanie put a damper on Christy's mood and he knew that, it was okay, he needed to talk to her anyway.

Carlos' POV

"Precious, I need to talk to you. Remember I told you my mission was going to be three to six months?" She nodded, so I continued, "Well that has changed, it is going to be six to nine months instead. It is suspected that they know I am coming, Precious your danger level went up, Hal and Woody will also be here. Lester is your primary. Please, and yes I am begging you, do whatever he asks."

"I will. Please have Lester come here tonight, I have an idea."

I opened my phone and hit speed dial three, "Stop here for tonight."

A few minutes later the garage door opened and Lester strolled in.

We all sat at the dining room table, Lester listened as I told him what I had told Christy.

He looked at her, "Do you trust me?"

"As much as I trust Carlos, with my life I trust both of you."

"Precious, you said you had an idea, what is it?"

"I doubt that you will like it much, but it might help to keep me safe. How about I marry Lester while you are gone? People who don't know us won't know the difference, people who may be watching would probably report back to the cartel that I have married another and their info was faulty, basically taking me out of danger. When you come home, Lester and I get divorced then if you still want me we can get married."

"Well, you are right, I do not like it, but it makes sense to do that. As of late we have not been out in public much alone, most of the time Lester is with us. What do you think Lester?"

"It might work. I would need to buy an engagement ring. How close are they watching you?"

"Poking around but not super close, indoors of course they have no idea what is going on. On this place, they have no clue either the animals would tell in a heartbeat if someone strange was around or they would be caught on camera. If we go out in public, I need to look like the third wheel any PDAs needs to be between you two."

I kissed her deeply, she put a lot of thought into this and I wanted her to know I appreciated it.

The next morning we all slept in, we woke up about 0800. I made love to her while Lester cooked breakfast. Her idea about marrying Lester was a good plan, but I had wanted her waiting on me when I got back. She said they would get divorced but, I was still hesitant. What if I came back and she did not want me any longer? I dismissed it after I thought about how she had acted when I got home last night.

I went back to the bedroom where she was still refusing to get up.

"Christy can we talk?"

"Sure, what is wrong baby?"

"Nothing is wrong per se, I am worried a little."

"Carlos there is nothing to worry about, I am going to listen to Lester, Hal and Woody, I trust they will keep me safe."

"Precious, that is not it. I am concerned that when I come back you might not want me again, you are going to be married to Lester."

She moved to straddle me then wrapped her arms and legs around me. "Carlos, you are the one I want to marry. My marriage to Lester will be to keep me safe. I will marry you when you get home. I love you."

I do not know if it was possible but I pulled her closer to me, "You make me the happiest man in the world. You being my wife makes everything worthwhile. I like the thought of what your last name will be. Dios, I love you too. Lets go talk to Lester about you and him getting married."

CCCCCCCCCCCC

"We were wanting to talk to you about your upcoming nuptials with Christy," Carlos started.

Les nodded and Carlos continued, "I have been thinking, it would probably be best if you two got married before I left."

"Carlos I don't want you hurt by watching us get married."

"Precious, it will look better if I am there, besides someone has to give away the bride."

"Man, I don't want to take away from the little bit of time you have left with Christy before you leave."

"You will not be, you might marry her but I am going to have the honeymoon."

"I know this was my idea but are you sure you both want to do it and how would we pull it off that quick?"

"I have a judge who owes me a favor, let me make a call to him and to Ella. Lester you go ring shopping, Christy and I will go dress shopping. Get married on the beach and the reception can be the party. Lots of friends and witnesses," Carlos barked.

"How are we going to explain this to my crew and your staff?" Christy asked.

"Mine knows some of us are leaving, they will not question it. What do you want to tell your staff?"

"Eric is the only one I need to talk to. He shields me sometimes and he will in this situation. Let me get him over here to explain what is going on," she said as she hit speed dial three on her phone. "He will be here in a minute," after she talked to him for a moment.

Eric came in the kitchen where they were gathered, Carlos went on to tell him about what was going on and our plan. He agreed to run interference in case the guys got too nosy about Christy's business. The shop called and needed him to come back, as he walked out the door, he mentally started beating himself up that she would never be his. But if she was happy, that was all that mattered to him.

The trio finished getting ready to face the day, as Christy showered and Carlos took the opportunity to call Tank.

"Is there anything you need me at the office for?"

Tank told him no and asked what was going on. Carlos filled him in on Lester and Christy getting married at the party, Tank was shocked to say the least but had a pretty good idea why they were getting married. Before disconnecting Carlos asked Tank to transfer him over to Ella.

Carlos asked Ella if she could bake a wedding cake for Lester and Christy, he could tell she was confused by the request but agreed. After Carlos hung up, Ella stood there looking at the receiver wondering what had happened to him and Christy, she knew she needed to ask Tank.

Tank told Ella he was not sure what happened but he suspected it had something to do with his upcoming mission and trying to keep Christy safe. Ella thanked him for his time and felt better knowing that it was to be done to protect Christy and not because they had broken up.

Carlos asked Christy if she wanted someone else to go with them to look at dresses.

"I don't have any female friends to ask most of my friends are guys."

"Do you want to ask Steph? I know you do not really know her but she has good taste."

**Wow Steph helping to shop for a wedding dress?**


	21. Chapter 21

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen for your help.**

Starting over after Failure

Previously

Carlos asked Christy if she wanted someone else to go with them to look at dresses.

"I don't have any female friends to ask most of my friends are guys."

"Do you want to ask Steph? I know you do not really know her but she has good taste."

Chapter 21

She nodded that it was fine. Carlos called Steph and asked if she was busy and where she was at the moment. "We will pick you up in fifteen and do not bring Lula."

When Steph got in the truck with Carlos and Christy, Carlos filled her in on the dress shopping and advised her that she would probably be a target since Manny was also on this mission. Carlos offered Stephanie the apartment on seven and her a job with Rangeman if it would help keep her safe. Steph said she would consider it and talk to Manny about it as well and that they were currently planning on her living at Manny's house.

Stephanie was not surprised that Christy was marrying Les she was actually surprised Ranger had not tried it over the years with her. She studied Christy to learn how this woman was different and had won Ranger's heart. Christy was certainly not his type: she was short, not rail thin she had curves, she was not big breasted, he liked a rack on a woman, she was smart and successful, Christy also didn't put up with his bullshit.

"Who's idea was it for you to marry Les?" Steph was sure she knew the answer.

"It was mine. I was trying to think of a way to take some of the pressure off of Carlos while he was gone. If there wasn't a target on my back, it would be one less thing for him to worry about."

"Wow, I didn't expect that. Do you feel that comfortable around Les? He is a man whore you know, that little black book is stuffed with numbers."

"I am extremely comfortable around him, I trust him with my life and I know he would never intentionally put me in danger. The little black book, eh I don't care."

It didn't take long for them to find a dress for her. Christy bought a knee length ivory dress with a low 'v' neck collar it was actually a little plain, the veil was sheer with lace scallops around the edge similar to the one she wore when she married Alex. Christy had never been one to dress in the nines and she was not going to now.

They picked up lunch at Pino's and went back to Christy's house. Stephanie fell in love with her house and the dogs. After Christy took Steph on a tour of the house they returned to the kitchen with Carlos and Lester. Hal came in after working at the barn.

The time was perfect.

Steph's POV

Once everyone had gathered, Lester got down on one knee in front of Christy, "To make this official I need to do this. Christy, I love you and want to be with you, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife."

Her reply had less fanfare than his proposal. She smiled then said a simple yes. I watched has he slid a two carat diamond engagement ring on her left hand then kissed her slowly and passionately in front of Ranger. I could have been knocked over with a feather, he didn't growl or invite Les to the mats. I thought to myself _where is Ranger and what have you done with him?_ This was certainly not the Ranger of old. This man used to get so jealous if another man looked at me, but he was sharing her with Les sort of.

Hal had a confused look on his face, I told him I would explain it on the way to the bond's office and not to question it. He congratulated Les and Christy then said bye to Ranger. Likewise, I did the same.

CCCCCCCCCCCC

Lester's POV

The marriage license was taken care of along with the cake, Christy's dress and the proposal. I was nervous when I asked her to marry me, why I don't know but I was. She wasn't going to turn me down this whole thing had been her idea. Maybe it was because I knew in a few months we would divorce and she would no longer be mine.

As if she read my mind Christy spoke, "Les you will always be mine."

I smiled but asked, "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Ranger brought us back to reality. "Do not hog her Santos." He took her off of my lap and kissed her long and hard. "I have waited all afternoon to do that, ever since I saw you in that wedding dress."

Christy told us she had a headache and was going to lay down for a few minutes Carlos laid down with her while I cooked dinner. When it was ready I walked in the bedroom to let him know, both were asleep. I went back to the kitchen and covered the food to help keep it warm before returning to the bedroom. As I was trying to let Ranger know I was leaving, he asked if dinner was ready I replied that it was.

"Lay down with her, I will eat and go to the office for a while. I will send you a text when I am on my way home, wake her then."

Sleep claimed me quickly, a couple hours later I heard my cell chirp for a text. I knew why he wanted me to wake her, she would growl if she was not done with a nap just like trying to wake her in the morning. A different tactic was in order if I didn't want my head ripped off, I just did not know what, nothing worked any other time. Finally, she stretched like a cat and purred as I watched her slowly wake.

Ranger arrived back a few minutes later after Christy and I had made it to the kitchen. He kissed her hello, fondled her breast then asked if she felt okay. She told him she was a little better.

Christy's POV

Carlos came in as we were heating our food up, he had a small box in his hand. We all sat at the dining room table while we ate, I liked sitting at the table at the end of the day and recap the days events or eat in silent companionship it really didn't matter to me, just being together was important. I could tell Carlos was wanting to say or do something but was trying to patiently wait while I finished eating.

Meanwhile I was forming my plans for tonight of pleasuring my man for the evening. After our dinner settled I was thinking I would give him a blow-job before having him be rough and hard on my core. I could not get enough of this man since I had learned what it was like to have someone make it about my pleasure.

Once I had finished eating, Carlos pulled me in his lap, "I had wanted to wait until the party but it is not going to be the place. I know I have been an ass and I do not deserve you or your love for that, I am sorry."

"I forgave you the other day, I have had a chance to think and I know you were trying to protect me. I appreciate that. You, Carlos deserve to be loved very much, you are such a good man. Ranger, eh, I don't care for that persona, that person is an ass. Carlos makes me feel loved, wanted, appreciated, Carlos is caring, considerate and loved by me. You are human, you are going to screw up so am I it is just human nature. I love you."

"I told myself that I was not buying a ring, but then I saw it and thought it could be a promise ring. A promise that I love you, a promise that I am thinking of you, a promise that I am coming home to you and a promise that I am going to marry you. Christy I love you with all my heart."

My plans of pleasuring my man went out the window, I needed Carlos this evening to make love to me. His pledge to me made my heart melt.

Carlos asked Lester to take the turbo back to Rangeman for the night. Lester knew we needed some time alone besides he knew in a couple more weeks it would just be the two of us. He readily agreed and prepared to leave for the night. I kissed him on the cheek and told him I would see him in the morning before he left us.

Carlos and I needed a night alone and full of passion. He called Tank and told him not to call except in the case of bloodshed.

We had just settled in bed and were in the midst of exploring each other's mouths when Carlos' phone rang.

"Somebody better dead."

"He is not dead but close, Lester and the Turbo have been shot to bits. He passed out and hit a tree," Tank replied. "He is already in route to the hospital."

"How bad?"

"Bad, he is going to need blood and a lot of it."

"We will be there," Carlos pocketed his phone. "Get dressed."

I quickly dressed and didn't ask questions until we were in my truck I already knew it was Lester and it was bad. "How bad?"

"Tank said bad and he was going to need a lot of blood."

"I hate to be the one to say this, but it was not meant for him. They attacked _your_ car they thought you were the one in it."

Carlos regarded her for a moment, "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you will also have Hal and Woody with you twenty-four/seven. They know where you live and it does not matter if you marry Les or not, you are on their radar."

What he said was blunt but that was the cold hard truth, I was in trouble too. I had grabbed a couple skeins of yarn to crochet while we waited on word about Les. It helps me to burn off nervous energy and since I could not sand on a car or do something else crocheting was my fall back activity to keep myself busy and my mind somewhat occupied. I had made many gifts from that mindless activity.

When we walked in the waiting room half of the Rangeman staff was there, part of them had already given blood and others were waiting to see if it was going to be needed. None of the guys going on the mission were going to be allowed to give blood. Manny and Stephanie came out from where she had given blood. She immediately came to me and held me while I cried. She was whispering words of comfort to me.

"He is tough, he will come through this. Christy he loves you so much, way more than friends should. You will be fine, I will stay with you if you want. Ranger is going to want to hit the streets to find the bastards that did this." I kept crying and was inconsolable no matter how hard Steph tried. "Ssshhhhh, it will be fine. Come on lets sit."

She released me from the hug and took my hand to lead me to a chair, she sat on one side of me while Carlos sat on the other. Once I calmed down some I managed to ask Carlos if they needed more blood. He said yes.

"I am going to go give blood," Carlos and Stephanie both stood to go with me.

I stopped by Woody, "Please call Eric, have him call the others from the shop, any of the guys with O-negative blood especially have them come here and give. Tell him that any of them that can donate will receive a hundred dollar bonus."

After my blood was donated, Carlos woke me up laughing. "Not into needles?"

"How did you guess? Me passed out on the floor give it away?"

He carried me back to the lobby. Eric was walking in the waiting room, "Let me guess, she gave blood."

Carlos smiled and nodded yes.

Some of the other guys came in, registered to give blood and were taken back to donate in case Lester needed it. Eric kept a list of the guys who donated. I told him where to find the cash in my safe and that I was obviously not going to be there tomorrow. He understood my wanting to stay with Lester.

Carlos' POV

It scared the crap out of me when the phone rang, I knew it was going to be bad. I was prepared to spend a couple hours making love to Christy not for this type call. She did not question me when I told her to get dressed, she waited to ask questions until she got in the truck. I knew at that moment if Lester gave her an order she would do and ask questions later, providing he survived. Before I told her she asked me how bad.

I really did not have a good answer for her other than what Tank had told me on the phone and we would know more once we made it to the hospital. Tank's report had me nervous and scared for her.

She was smart enough to know that Lester was not the target but that I was. Before I ever said it I think she knew they were watching her. Hal and Woody would know their assignment had changed before they left the hospital tonight, I needed another on her as well. I would probably have Ram on her and Vince with Stephanie although I was not sure that the cartel knew my crew coming with me so she might be safe but why take chances.

When we got to the hospital I asked at the desk about the status of Les and supplied them with all the necessary paperwork showing that I had a medical power of attorney on him and gave the nurse all the insurance information. I was informed that he was in surgery and had lost a lot of blood from bleeding out. The hospital had given him several units of blood and wanted more on hand in case he needed it. Several of my staff had already given.

Christy said she would give blood after Stephanie calmed her down. I made a mental note to send Stephanie flowers to thank her for being a friend to Christy.

Somebody should have warned me that Christy and needles do not go in the same sentence or the same room for that matter. The nurse had everything needed to draw Christy's blood. When Christy saw the needle she passed out, I picked her up to hold her in my lap while they collected blood. I woke her up once they were done collecting from her, I kept her in my arms and walked back out to the waiting area.

Eric came in after Woody called him, some of the other men from the body shop were coming in to donate blood too. Christy had offered to pay them a hundred dollar bonus for coming in. All of them refused it, they said they were helping family, they liked Les and found out he was her fiancé when Eric called them.

I asked Eric if I could talk to him alone for a few minutes.

"This was an attempt on my life. Whoever did this thought they were shooting at me. He was taking my car back to the office so if I was being watched they would think it was me driving and he was with Christy. I need to know, are you licensed to carry concealed?"

He nodded yes.

"Please carry from now until I come home from my mission, Christy is in danger, she is on their radar. Starting now, Hal, Woody and probably Ram will be her bodyguards twenty-four/seven. Les is not going to be in any condition to watch over her. I know she needs to work but I want to keep her out of as much danger as possible. Are there any others at the shop licensed?"

"I'm not sure but I will ask them and advise them to carry as well. We will do our best to keep her safe. Thank you for loving her, she has needed a good man or men for a long time."

We shook hands. I heard the doctor come out and ask for the Santos family. We all gathered around.

"He is stable and in recovery. He has lost a lot of blood, but we got the bleeding stopped, he has got two broken ribs and one was totally shattered. One of his lungs collapsed but we got it re-inflated, right now, we have him in a medically induced coma and in a couple days we will try to wake him."

Christy spoke, "When can I see him?"

"And you would be Miss?"

"Christy Maxwell his fiancée."

"Give me a few minutes to recheck everything and when we get him to a room, we will take you to him."

"Doctor, I will be posting two guards at his door plus she will be staying with him."

"Mr. Mañoso. Guards are no problem."

I watched Stephanie guide Christy back to the chairs. Those two are going to be fine, Christy did not forget who treated her well, neither did Stephanie.

I heard Christy talking quietly to Stephanie my heart went out to her, "I feel so bad, Carlos and I wanted a night alone, we had asked him to take the Turbo back to Rangeman. If we had not done that, he would not have gotten shot."

"You don't know that Christy, they could have tried an attack on the house during the night. If they want to come after Ranger, these people will. I have dealt with it before with him. It is not your fault," Stephanie consoled. "Come here."

I watched Christy go back to the comfort of Stephanie. Standing back I watched the two women and a quick glance around the room told me some of the others were watching too. Hector and Manny went to the women, I was surprised to see Hector kiss Christy on the forehead and pull her into his arms.

Hector whispered to Christy, "I heard you two got engaged this evening, what does Carlos think about it?"

"It was done to protect me, we were hoping they would think I was Lester's and not Carlos'."

"The staff knows you are Ranger's, we will all watch over you. You and Ranger really are good together, I have never seen him this happy. I am sorry I was an ass to you at Shorty's that day."

"Hector, I forgive you. I know you love Stephanie and wanted them to be together, it was not meant for them to be. Stephanie looks very happy with Manny."

"Si, she is. Go, go be with Ranger and Lester."

She smiled at him through her tears and stroked his face much like Stephanie did, he took her hand and kissed the palm. As she was coming back to me, the doctor came back out for Christy and I. I took her hand while we walked back to room 311 where Lester was lying.

Her tears flowed freely as she looked down on the man she was going to marry this Saturday. His coma kept him from holding her, I wrapped my arms around her.

"He is going to be fine, sit with him and hold his hand. Talk to him like you do at home. I am going back to the waiting room and send Steph back with you. The men and I have to make plans to find the bastards behind all of this."

"If you want and could use the man power talk to Eric, he, Dale, Terry and Mark all have military background and all have been in Iraq. I will close the shop tomorrow."

"I usually do not work with people I am not familiar with as far as training goes, but this is an exception for me. Hal and Woody will be here if you need them. I love you."

"I love you too. Please be careful. Dale and Mark were snipers if that helps."

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, Christy knew she was looking at the bad-ass, street thug Ranger and not her Carlos. The surprise was on her when I kissed her tenderly the way only Carlos could, I flipped it like a switch. Quietly I closed the door behind myself as I left the room.


	22. Chapter 22

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen for looking this over and standing by me.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 22

Christy sat down with Lester and held his hand while she looked at all the tubes, wires, and other sensors attached to him. "I should have never let you go," she whispered.

Stephanie walked in the room and went to the other chair. She started talking to Lester about being back and how her and Manny were doing, just anything that came to mind.

Meanwhile in the waiting area, "Men we need to find who did this, it was an attempt on me. I do not want it being my fiancée next. She is on their radar obviously. Some of her crew has concealed carry permits, they have already agreed to carry at the shop to aid in protection. Hal and Woody you are with her twenty-four/seven. Ram, I am adding you to that detail at least until Les is healed. Tonight however you are with me. We hit the streets in ten, I want these fuckers found yesterday. Some of Christy's guys will join us on the streets."

Lester's POV

I had a hinky feeling when I left that something was not right but I could not put my finger on it. Driving in the Turbo was nothing new for me, I had driven it plenty of other times for Ranger.

A black van came up along side the car with the side door open, I knew I was in trouble. Bullets started riddling the car and I felt a couple hit me. The pain shot through my body along with the sudden feeling of not being able to breathe. I tried to stay conscious and get to Rangeman finally I lost the fight and crashed into a tree.

I remembered hearing voices, one sounded like Bobby's but I could not open my eyes to be sure, I knew another was Tank's, he was barking orders. Darkness overtook me again.

Now, I guessed I was lying in a hospital bed with tubes and wires everywhere. I heard beeping must be my heartbeat, that was good, I wasn't dead, I could hear voices talking. Something or someone was holding my hands, I was trying to focus on the voices. I recognized both, one was Steph's and the other was beautiful, it was Christy's she was not hurt. Whoever did this did not go back to the house.

I could not understand why I could not wake up, damn my side was hurting. It was bugging the shit out of me that I could not console Christy, she sounded so upset. Stephanie was consoling her, in my mind I scratched my head, how the hell did I end up in the Twilight Zone, dear lord don't let me see Rod Sterling this couldn't be right.

Stephanie was talking to me about her and Manny, they were making a go of a relationship, I could see that they would be good for each other.

Next I heard Christy and Ranger in my room. If he would give me time, I would go with him. Both of the women were chattering at me about anything and everything. The only one I really wanted to hear was Christy's, don't get me wrong I loved Beautiful but, Christy was mine for now.

She whispered in my ear about giving me a blow job causing my dick to twitch. FUCK! I screamed in my head, that hurt, shit I have a fucking catheter. Great more tubes. The next thing she said was she needed to stop, She saw my dick and a pained expression across my face and realized that I must be able to hear what people were saying.

"I should not have teased you about a blow job, even though you are not awake you must hear us. Since that is the case, I love you," she whispered next. Music to my ears.

I am not sure how much time passed, but I heard Steph telling Christy she was leaving for the night but she would come back in the morning and stay if Christy wanted to go home and rest a bit. Christy replied back with a thanks and see you then.

Christy told me she was going to try to sleep some but she was not leaving me tonight. It sounded like the nurses brought Christy a reclining chair for her to sleep in but I was not positive. I knew she held my hand all night.

The next morning as promised, Stephanie came in with Boston Creme doughnuts and coffee. I could hear them talking about how I had done during the night and apparently I had done well. Hell yeah, what did they expect. I have a wedding tomorrow. Oh hell, how am I going to do that? FUCK!

Next person I heard was Ranger, "Good morning asshole," he whispered in my ear. He and Eric were there to get Christy and take her home for a while so she could rest and shower. The next person to come into the room was my doctor, he ran everybody out but Ranger and Christy. He checked my eyes listened to my lungs and did all that other doctor crap they do.

"Mr. Santos is healing better than we expected. His lungs sounds good, oxygen level is high also good, eyes responsive, I don't see any reason why we cannot start letting him wake tonight. See what we have when he is conscious," Dr. Short said.

In my head I was doing my happy dance, I had to get better fast to protect Christy.

LCLCLCLCLCLCLC

In an unusual move for Ranger, he rode home in the backseat letting Eric drive. Christy's truck had extremely dark tinted windows, translated, blacked out, but not taking chances he wanted it to seem he was not in the truck. On the drive home Christy asked the men if they had any luck finding who had done this.

"The feds are trying to take charge of it," Carlos started, "but we have no intention of just standing down, Ram, Eric and I had the most luck. We found the van and got a couple leads off of it before the feds took it. My staff is looking at some hair we found and a shell casing that was left behind plus a couple fingerprints."

"Have you seen the car yet?" Christy asked.

"We are going there now, it is at the police impound yard they are done with it. Dale is bringing the other truck and trailer to haul it back to the shop. I figured you wanted to fix it," Eric told her.

"I will but no offense Carlos, it is not going to be a high priority at the moment. I want Lester healed up first," she said as she chanced a quick glance at Carlos.

"It is only a car it can be replaced, my cousin cannot. Please get him healed first," he asked.

They arrived at the impound yard, the car had been drug to the gates. Tank was right. There were bullet holes from the front bumper all the way down the driver's side to the rear bumper. The passenger side front fender was crumpled where it hit the tree.

Christy, Eric and Dale went to car repair mode, assessing what was damaged, what could be repaired and what needed replaced. They knew it needed more than just a fender but until that was off the car they would not be able to check about the frame. Christy came around to the driver's side of the Porsche to open the door. Eric noticed she paled. He put his arm around her and lead her away from the door and Lester's blood that covered the seat and floorboard.

Once he had her in the back seat of the truck, Carlos moved to her. He held her while she cried, "If we had not asked him to take the car back he would be fine."

"Christy, it is not our fault. Fault belongs with the people who attacked the car. I promise you, I will find them. We have a few things we will need to adjust. Precious, we will not get our week at the beach. He needs you to be with him. This is going to sound terrible out of me, he needs you to be with him more than I need to be with you. Christy, we are both in love with you. He finally confessed the other day he has loved you from the day he met you and is looking forward to being married to you. I think he hopes I will really share you with him."

Dale and Eric hooked the wench up to drag the car onto the trailer since it could not be driven while Christy and Carlos watched from the other truck. With the car loaded, Dale took off followed by Eric, Christy and Carlos in the other truck. Eric stopped to get them breakfast since Christy had not really eaten since the night before.

Once they arrived back at the shop, the Porsche was moved into Christy's part of the shop. Nobody else worked in that area except her most of the time the guys would not venture into that area to even pass through. This bay in the garage had two entrances to it, one off of the shop that stayed locked, the other was off of her office not to mention of course the big garage door. It was her domain, she ruled supreme in this bay.

Christy took the opportunity to go ahead and do payroll, the next few days were going to be busy for her. She took the time to add an extra hundred dollars in everybody's pay envelopes anyway for having come to donate blood in Lester's name. Ten extra units had been collected and since Lester had not needed the blood, it would go to the blood bank. All of her crew had given that was just another thing she loved about them.

Carlos had remained in the truck for a few minutes before getting out, his mind and eyes wandered over his car. He knew Les was lucky. He walked through her bay taking in more of what was done to his car. Pausing for a second before he tapped on the office door, after a moment the door opened.

Immediately he scrambled the cameras not wanting anybody to see him in the office. He pulled Christy to his chest and held her while trying not to imagine what could happen to her in the cartels efforts to stop him. Once she had finished in the shop, they went to the house so she could clean up and take a nap.

After her shower she asked Carlos if he was going to shower and nap with her. He said he had a few things on the computer to work on but he might join her later in bed. She noticed he was acting off almost like Ranger was lurking just under the surface or was the one she was seeing, she prayed that it was not. Giving him a quick kiss she left him to his work hoping that all she was seeing was just a man concerned about the job he had to do and the events of the last twenty-four hours.

Carlos knew the cost of the job was getting to high stakes. The pressure was mounting on him, precisely why he didn't do relationships. Maybe if these assholes were found it would take some of his worry about Christy away, but he doubted it. After he finished on the computer, he stripped off, showered then quietly slipped into bed with Christy spooning into her warm body.

Sleep took him quickly, he had been running on adrenaline for the last little bit and needed to take a much needed nap. When he was spooned into her the dreams normally stayed away, but not now.

_A flash of light sparked around him, he was in another godforsaken jungle alone as usual. He heard her screams and tried running to her. He felt no closer to her the further he ran, knowing it was Christy made his heart hurt. How did they get her, why was she here? He knew the answer to both questions, they got her somehow. Now they were going to use her to make him leave or rather surrender. If he stayed, she was dead, if he left, same result, either way his life was over just as hers would be. He slowed down allowing himself to think rationally and come up with a plan._

"Carlos, Carlos, CARLOS! You're hurting me." He jerked awake and realized it was a dream. Ignoring the fact he had been clutching her, he pulled Christy back to him and held her while trying to calm himself. Beads of sweat were scattered across his forehead before he took the back of his hand to wipe it.

"I am sorry. Just a bad dream, thank God you are okay," he said sounding a little winded.

"I am okay, just surprised. You have never had a dream since we have been together, do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head no. "I just need to hold you longer."

They laid back down and drifted off to sleep again. Fortunately, no more dreams found him. A couple hours later he woke and quietly slipped out of bed. Depending on how things went down tonight, he would decide his next plan of action.

For now, they needed to get Christy safely back to the hospital for the night.


	23. Chapter 23

**Not mine. Just using them and someday I might return Lester. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Severus for you help.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 23

Christy and Carlos had been brought up to speed that the doctor was going to let Lester wake up the next day. Ranger and the crew hit the streets again looking this time for the members from the cartel.

Hector had located the low level scum from Stark Street and brought him to Rangeman, he had learned the guy's name was Gomez Martin or it used to be. Now, it was going to be fish food once he furnished them with the information they wanted. Hector had been placed in charge to retrieve that information. Rangeman already knew Martin was working for the cartel to follow the Porsche and he had been the driver. Hector needed to find out if it was to be a warning or if Ranger was to be eliminated. They also wanted to know if Christy was a target. It didn't matter if Gomez learned her name, he was not leaving there alive, he had participated in an attempt on Ranger bottom line.

While Hector 'worked' on Gomez, Ranger, Eric, and Ram closed in on Emilio Montago after learning his name from Gomez and where to find him. Emilio was a hitman for the cartel, proof that it was not just a warning, but was trying to take out Ranger. Gomez gave up Emilio's location quickly thinking it would spare his life, wrong. Approximately two minutes after giving up everything he knew, which wasn't much, he was dead, a jagged red mark on his throat that would have matched the knife Hector was thoroughly cleaning.

Emilio was holed up on the top floor of a rundown and predominately abandoned apartment building used by hookers and drug dealers . He made a few mistakes thinking nobody would venture up here to capture him: Mistake One, he really didn't know Ranger and the lengths he would go to for his family. The second mistake, he was foolish enough to think he could get away down the fire escape if anybody from Rangeman showed up. And lastly, he could rely on Stark Street scum not to give him up. He should have paid them to keep quiet.

As Emilio made his way to the fire escape a pissed off Cuban was waiting on him. Unfortunately for Emilio he fell a couple times while being shoved through the window and back into the roach infested apartment before being lead down the stairs. Once on the street, his walking ability improved slightly. He did however have trouble climbing into the waiting SUV.

Depending on who you were in the SUV it was either a long ride to Rangeman or very short, for Emilio it was short. Once inside Eric told Ranger he was not going to hang around, he would go to the hospital to take Christy and the guys food, then sit with her before going home for the night.

Carlos thanked Eric for his help and told him if anything important came from this interrogation he would let him know before disappearing through the door to the stairwell leading to the holding cells.

Eric stopped at Smokey Joe's for Christy and the guys watching the door before going to the hospital. He doubted she had eaten anything and really didn't know if Christy would want anything, but he was going to have it there for her if she did, plus he didn't know if Tank and Hal would be hungry as well.

He stepped off the elevator on the third floor, immediately he saw Hal and Tank.

A smile broke out across his face, "We picked up Emilio Montago, he is at Rangeman. It is over."

"We heard," Tank started, "But I promise you it isn't over. They will send more, we still have to be on guard."

Eric's smile faltered, "I had hoped that meant Christy would be safe."

"She will be with Rangeman and the body shop watching over her," Tank offered as consolation.

"Anybody at the shop that doesn't have a concealed carry permit has agreed to obtain one. Ranger said he would pay for them if they could not afford to obtain one, it's very generous of him. Have y'all eaten?" Eric asked letting his Virginia accent come through.

It was Tank and Hal's turns to smile when Eric handed them the bags from Smokey Joe's. All three men went in Lester's room, Christy was napping while still holding Lester's hand.

"Max, I have food for you."

Christy opened one eye when Eric passed the box of food under her nose. After taking a deep breath, both eyes were open and she checked for drool. She let go of Lester's hand to stretch and then to walk around a moment to finish waking up. In the meantime, Eric was setting up the food for everybody.

They ate in relative silence. Eventually, Eric told Christy about what had happened and brought her up to speed. The silence was broken again by Tank speaking next to her.

"Blondie, don't think for one minute this is over. You will still have the protection detail. They will send more."

Christy frowned, "I don't mind the guys being around. It really doesn't bother me at all. What I don't like is being a target. I know it is not Carlos' fault, but I want to be with him so I accept the good and the bad. We have reached a bad part for the time being."

After finishing the bite of food in his mouth, Tank replied, "Good I am glad you aren't bothered by them and understand what is going on. We cannot have anything happen to you. You have been good for Ranger, he had been an ass to deal with until you came along. Now, he is tolerable, well almost." He chuckled at the end.

Hal added his opinion, "Christy, you have no idea how bad he was, we were walking on eggshells around him. You have made a huge difference in him and in Lester as well. Lester got rid of his little black book, I saved it. I thought it might come in handy."

Christy smiled real big, "He told me he had gotten rid of it. I can't believe he really did."

Tank nodded in agreement with Hal, "He said he had found someone special, I guess that was you. What does Ranger say about it?"

Not sure how much to tell them Christy replied with as brief of an answer as she could, "He told me Lester loved me as much as he does."

Tank smiled, "Blondie, if he didn't he would have never gotten rid of the book. You're stuck with that one. How are you going to handle them both?"

Christy blushed she knew even after all of this was over, Lester would stay in some capacity. "I am sorry I shouldn't have asked you that," Tank said bailing her out of having to answer. It was something she needed to think about.

As dinner and the conversation was winding down, Hal and Tank excused themselves to return to their posts outside Lester's room. Eric cleaned up the leftovers, once finished he came over to Christy and kissed her bye then bid her a good night. "Call me if you need me," he called out as he was going out the door.

Lester's doctor came in to check on him during his evening rounds, "Ms. Maxwell, Lester is doing quiet well, we stopped the drugs keeping him in a coma so it is a matter of time before he wakes up. I would guess probably sometime tomorrow he should be awake it takes usually about twenty-four hours for it to get out of a patient's system enough to start the possibility of him waking up. He is a very lucky man, had it not been for his good health and strong will, he would not have survived."

Christy smiled, "Yes he is a very strong willed man. I can't wait for him to wake, I have missed those green eyes." She moved to sit beside Lester and took his hand.

"Did you hear that honey, you should be awake tomorrow sometime."

"Keep talking to him, it gives him direction to focus on. It does help with the waking up process."

After the doctor finished up with Lester he excused himself and left the room. Christy went back to talking to Lester, telling him about her day, about the Peterson's car being done and they were coming tomorrow to pick it up along with other things that went on in the shop. She told him she was excited that he was hopefully going to wake up tomorrow.

A short time later Carlos entered the room, he greeted Christy with his usual deep sensual kiss that made her melt. But she could sense something was off. He wasn't quite himself and seemed withdrawn.

"We have problems. There will be more hitmen coming, the cartel has put a reward on both of us, two million each."

"What is the plan?"

"If he is awake tomorrow, have a wedding here in the room. We will get it in the paper. Precious, after tonight, you will not see me until I come home from the mission. We cannot chance it. I love you too much to let something happen to you."

Christy cried through her sobs, "I love you too."

"I am ready to tell you my dream," she nodded for him to continue. "I was in a jungle, it was night. I could hear you screaming, no matter how fast I ran, I was getting no closer to you. In this dream I knew they were going to kill you to stop me from coming after them," he stopped talking he could not finish about how they had killed her.

She knew there was more to the dream than he was telling her, but she knew better than to ask. Just the way he was holding her told her it didn't have a pleasant ending.

"We are going home in just a little bit. I want to spend the night making love to you. I _need_ to make love to you. You will see me tomorrow if there is a wedding otherwise you will not. Tank and I decided to cancel the party. Have a reception there at the beach house after Lester gets out of here. Just so you know, the house is in yours and Lester's names I transferred it over to you and him. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding." The last part he said with a smirk, he was teasing her and trying to lighten the mood.

They stayed with Lester until Manny and Binkie showed to relieve Tank and Hal before leaving. Christy was surrounded by the three men as they moved towards her truck. Before ever arriving at the truck she could tell there was a flat. Tank pulled out a knife that was sticking out of the sidewall of the tire with a note.

"We're coming bitch."

Luckily a Rangeman SUV was parked a couple spots over, they all loaded in the SUV with Tank at the wheel.

"Hal and I will come back and change the tire and check it for bombs and bring it to your house," Tank told the couple.

On Christy's scary shit meter of one to ten, this was an eleven. There was no point in ending the relationship, the bounty had already been set on her. The only hope was her nuptials with Lester in a few hours.

"We need to have that wedding be a huge society announcement. They obviously know my name and what I drive so its easy to assume they know where I live too."

"Tank when you get back to Rangeman, send Woody and Ram over, tell them to pack street clothes, they can blend better next week at the shop," Ranger said while pulling Christy closer if possible.

Tank nodded in understanding.

A short time later, Hal came back driving her truck. Not long after him, Woody, Ram and Tank showed at the house.

Christy thanked all the guys for showing up to keep her and Carlos safe. While the guys talked and made plans, Christy went downstairs to lay out blankets and pillows for the guys who were staying on the big sleeper sofas downstairs.

She sat down on one of the sofas thinking about how her life had changed and how it was going to change even more after tomorrow then how it was going to be a challenge for the next several months with Carlos gone. A good cry was in order she felt. While working on gaining her composure after that much needed cry she closed her eyes and tried thinking about the fun times she and Carlos had had over the last few months. There had been a lot of good times in those four months. Lost in those memories, she didn't hear the footsteps coming towards her. Suddenly a pair of arms came around her and pulled her off of the couch. She screamed and started flailing.

"Precious its me, its me."

Christy started to calm when she realized it was Carlos holding her. She blushed, "Sorry, I was just reliving memories."

"I was getting worried, you have been down here for two hours. I think you really fell asleep." She gave him a sheepish grin. "Lets go make some more memories in our bedroom."

The guys had decided during the day Hal, Woody and Ram would be with her at the shop, while at night they would add Binkie and Tank. Zero and Zip were to be back ups if needed at the house. Cal was in a position to be able to help Tank. He was next on the list to become a core team member this would be a good exercise for him in a leadership roll at Rangeman. Once Lester was on his feet, Tank would probably not be needed at the house and could take back over at Rangeman.

It was decided that Vince would be with Stephanie while Manny was gone even though the cartel knew nothing of the others coming with Ranger on the mission. They also discussed the option of having Steph with Christy, the two women together might make both women content.

To have been a hitman Emilio knew an awful lot about the cartel and what they were doing. Something nagged at Hector about Emilio's knowledge. Even though it was late he called Steph, " Estephania tomorrow could you come over and run a search for me?"

"On who?"

Hector went on to tell her, she quickly agreed.


	24. Chapter 24

**Not mine. Except Christy. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Servus for your help. I appreciate it very much.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 24

Bright and early the next morning Steph called Hector as she was leaving Manny's to let him know she was on her way and would need in the garage in addition to access to the fifth floor.

It was all taken care of. Hector had let Chet working the monitors know that Stephanie was coming so when she pulled up, he would open the gate for her to enter. When she got off the elevator on the fifth floor, Hector handed her a fob for the gate. Tank had given her clearance to all floors except the penthouse.

"Little Girl, glad to have you here. Have you and Manny talked about you working here?"

"We have, I am going to accept it. Ranger said if the shit hits the fan and the cartel comes after me, I can stay on the seventh floor."

"Actually, we have an open apartment if you need it. It may come down to Christy and Lester in the penthouse. There was a threat against her last night."

Stephanie gave him that "O shit" face and nodded acknowledging that it was not a problem. As she walked to her old cube she wondered how Christy was doing this morning, Steph made a mental note to call her later.

She sat down in her chair in her old cubicle, smiling she thought that it was great to be back. Apparently Rodriguez had heard she was coming back since he had already filled her inbox. News traveled faster in this office than it did in the 'burg she believed.

Manny and Steph had talked about her coming back to work at Rangeman to let her earn her own money, keep her busy and not get bored. They had argued about her working for Vinnie and decided that it was probably best not to unless she had more reliable back up and not just Lula. After Manny had pointed out everything that had happened and they had not even left for the mission yet, she agreed. She was going to be partnered up with Ramon, she could handle him. He was easy on the eyes with his dark eyes, dark skin, even darker black hair and killer smile. Yeah, it was going to be a hardship for her, she knew it and smiled about the problem.

Hector had told her that Emilio's knowledge of the cartel made him suspicious, for a hitman he knew too much about the inner workings of this cartel. This search was her priority since it involved Manny, Hector and Ranger.

She wasn't happy to hear that the cartel had put a bounty on Ranger and Christy, it was bad enough for it to be on Ranger, but to put a bounty on Christy was worse and in her opinion not acceptable. Steph had never had that particular circumstance happen to her while she was with Ranger, if she could call whatever they had a relationship, to her this was bizarre.

The search on Emilio took a couple hours to run, while she waited she visited with some of the Merry Men she hadn't seen in a while. Ramon, Binkie and Bones were watching the monitors this morning. Binkie was only scheduled for a couple hours since he had spent the night at the hospital. Tank was going to let him off for a while to sleep and then come back to finish on the monitors. Steph had volunteered to work the monitors while Binkie took a bathroom break.

Hector's questions were answered after Steph looked the file over on Emilio. It was learned that Mr. Emilio Montago was a relative of José Sanchez. Emilio and José were half brothers. Montago's mother never married his father so the government didn't catch the relationship. The cartel would indeed want revenge for the disappearance and presumed killing of Emilio.

After Steph and Hector looked the file over and highlighted the glaring information, they took the file to Ranger. They entered after hearing him bark "Enter."

"We have some information the government failed to give you." Ranger motioned for her to continue. "Montago wasn't just a hitman, he was Sanchez half brother."

Ranger reached out for the file, "What else did the government leave out?"

"Montago has two more brothers. Their locations are unknown, but believed to be working for Sanchez, nobody knows what they look like to be certain if they are in the compound."

Ranger and Hector spoke in rapid fire Spanish leaving Stephanie out. She whipped her head towards Hector when he said, "Estephania and Cristina", she knew it was to do with her and Christy.

"What's going on?" she demanded to know.

"We were thinking about having both of you stay at our house. It is almost as secure as this place with the security system I installed in the house and the garage is pretty tight if you want visit it. I really do not think you are going to be a target, but for Manny's sake it does not hurt. There will be at least three men there at night. Eric and some other the others at the shop have concealed carry permits. Of the mornings, whoever is coming here to work could bring you. I know better than to try to tell Christy she has to stay home, she has the shop to run she cannot just leave it."

Stephanie was shocked, that was the most she had ever heard him say in all the time she had known him. "Have you talked to Christy about this?"

"Not yet, but I doubt she will mind, she likes you. She is used to having some of the guys around at various times. Hal and Woody are there all the time helping out, Tank, Cal and Bones have been over a few times when we have had poker night. Les does not count, nor do her guys from the shop."

"I'll think about it. You had better talk to her first," she said before leaving the office with Hector.

Carlos had not wanted to leave Christy this morning, he knew he would not see her again until he returned home. Thinking back on that decision now, he may have needed to reconsider that stance. He was the best in the business, he had his men there to protect her, and the cartel knew all about her already so why should he stay away. He dialed Tank's extension and asked him to come to his office.

"What's up?" Tank asked when he walked through the door.

"This is what Steph dug up on Emilio. Notice anything?" Without waiting for Tank to reply, "Do you think I am making the right choice staying away from Christy until after the mission? The cartel already knows about her. While I am here I can keep her safe, the guys staying there will be my back up."

"I would stay, I wouldn't want to leave her alone. Like you said, you are able to keep her safe, Ranger you're the best for a reason." While mentally adding, I wouldn't be able to stay away from that fine piece of tail.

"It tore me up walking away from her this morning and soon enough I will not be back for a long while. Changing the subject, have you heard anything about Les this morning, is he awake?"

"Nah bossman, I haven't heard a word, the guys watching the door would have called if he woke during the night. Christy isn't with him now?"

"Eric was taking her over later. She needed to do some paperwork at the shop for rehab on one of her staff."

"I figured she would want to stay there as much as possible with him hopefully waking up soon."

"Unfortunately, the paperwork had a deadline to meet, I guess she will go about 1000. Eric is taking her with Woody and Hal following."

"Getting back to this file, what's the plan?"

"I know Steph will keep digging to find out as much as possible on the two brothers. For now, we remain on high alert."

Tank nodded in response. "Let me know what you decide about staying with her, again if I were standing in your shoes, I'd stay with her," he replied as he left the office.

Once he was alone, Ranger rubbed his hand down his face then picked the file up on Emilio Montago to re-read it. He wondered what other important pieces of information the government failed to give him. The information on three people Steph found were critical pieces.

Ranger studied the names of the brothers. Felipe Montago and Alejandro Montago were Emilio's younger brothers, their mother never married and it was believed she had owned a brothel then passed away two years ago. There would be a place to check, they could be working security if they took over the brothel after their mother was gone.

If they were not connected to the cartel directly, he would probably not be able to take them out. It was a different story if they were involved, he had free reign in dealing with members of the cartel, it was possible they could be doing some human trafficking for the brothel even. Ranger picked up the phone.

When the phone was answered he said, "Steph, check some angles on the brothel, see if it is tied in any way, shape or form to the cartel all the way to human trafficking. It might be the key to the brothers."

He hung up with her and called Christy. When she answered he said, "I miss you already."

"That is great baby," replied the husky male voice on the other end.

A smile crossed Ranger's face, "You are awake!" He almost shouted into the phone.

"Have been for about an hour, they got the tubes out of a lot of places, talk to Christy."

Christy came on the line, "I had to do that to you, I thought you would like to hear him. He is obviously really hoarse right now and sluggish."

"I am thrilled to hear that asshole's voice, I will be down there after while . How is he doing overall?"

"Not bad we are waiting on them to take him for some tests now that he is awake. How are things on your end?"

"Steph is here and uncovered some important information, she is still working some angles on it. One thing about her, she can ferret out info like you would not believe. Call me back once they take him for tests and I might have more info for you then. I love you Precious."

"Talk to you in a few. I love you too."

He hung up the phone and walked out to the command floor. Things got still on the floor, "He is awake!" he said in his booming voice.

Cheers and high fives abound on the command floor. Everybody had been worried about Lester.

Ranger walked over to Steph's cube, "Any luck?"

"Oh yeah, aaallll kinds of luck." She handed him art.

Pictures, now he knew what the brothers looked like, a lot like their brother except they were still alive. "Proud of you, Steph."

Ranger turned to walk back to his office, "Let me know what else you get."

Steph was both happy and a little sad, it looked like the days of him calling her Babe were over, but she was glad to have helped him. She was hoping to help him more on this mission before the team left. The debate about her staying at Christy's still played in her mind. The thought of having another female around besides Ella held its appeal, they were close in age and probably had a few of the same interests. She really wanted to get to know this woman and what made her tick, plus she had a hot tub something Rangeman lacked. If they wanted her to stay at the house and Christy agreed, she would stay.

Carlos decided to forgo the waiting on the phone call from Christy and just show up at the hospital with lunch in hand. When he arrived he found Christy asleep in Lester's room and no Les. He sat the bag of food down and stooped down in front of her. "Precious, I'm here," trying not to startle her.

Slowly she began to stir when the scent of his shower gel registered in her brain. A smile spread across her face when she opened her eyes and saw him standing in front of her. "You're here."

"Yeah, I came to see you and Les. I also brought you lunch."

When she stood to stretch, lunch was forgotten as Carlos scooped her up in his arms for a hug and to kiss her. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around him allowing herself to be as close to him as possible, she loved being there in his arms. The kiss was long, hard and passionate but she would never get tired of them.

While she was still wrapped around Carlos, Lester was wheeled back into the room. "Hey why are you kissing and have your hands all over my fiancée's ass?"

Carlos sat Christy back on her feet, "She is still mine. Glad to see you awake, brother."

"Glad to be awake too. Christy and I talked about it, wanna try to do a wedding Monday with a Justice of the Peace? I will be out by then."

"Let me see what I can do. Christy, I need to talk to you about Stephanie possibly staying with you while we are gone. It may not be all the time, but every now and then."

"That is fine with me, it gives me someone other than guys to talk to. Plus I like her."

"I will let her know. Let me see if Justice Olsen is going to be available on Monday," Carlos said before stepping out of the room.

Christy sat quietly on the edge of the bed beside Lester just holding his hands and looking at those gorgeous green eyes. Carlos stepped back in the room, "It is set, you get married on Monday at 1100."

Carlos sat down in a chair beside Christy, she took one of her hands from Lester to hold hands with Carlos. "Carlos, are you sure you are going to be alright with this?" she quietly asked him.

He gave her a single nod answer, the usual Carlos reply.


	25. Chapter 25

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Servus for all your help.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 25

Monday morning found Lester being discharged from the hospital and into Bobby's care for now. It had been determined Lester would go to Christy's house to stay and Bobby would come there twice a day to check on him. When Bobby left for the mission, Lester should be in good enough shape that Christy would be able to change his bandages and know if something was wrong with the incisions.

Christy and Carlos were there along with a security detail that would rival the president. With discharge papers in hand along with a marriage license, Lester and the entourage made their way to the courthouse for an eleven A.M. appointment with the Justice of the Peace.

Somehow the media had gotten wind of the man who had been shot by an unknown gunman, left for dead with his car crashed into a tree and in a coma, to being released from the hospital and getting married all in the matter of a few days.

A microphone and a tape recorder were shoved in Christy's face. "Are you Christina Maxwell-Adkins the woman who owns Maximum Auto Body," Scarlet Farley with the Trenton Times asked.

"Yes, I am."

"We were under the impression you were involved with Ranger Mañoso, everybody has seen you around town with him and knows he has stayed at your house frequently," Scarlet inquired just as Ranger had asked her to do.

"No, I'm not with him, Ranger Mañoso is my bodyguard nothing more. Mr. Santos and I have been together for several months. We were planning on a wedding this past Saturday and then he unfortunately was shot before that could happen," Christy replied with a tone of mixed emotions just as she and Scarlet had practiced earlier that morning.

"Why are you going ahead with the marriage now, why not wait until Mr. Santos is completely healed?"

"We discussed it at great length and decided it was the right thing to do. Mr. Santos didn't want to wait any longer and neither did I," this time Christy tried to sound more upbeat just as Scarlet had suggested. 

"Ms. Maxwell, Malcolm Timmons, WTNJ. How and where did you and Mr. Santos meet?"

"We met at a diner in Point Pleasant several months ago."

"Mr. Santos, was it love at first sight?"

Lester took her hand and smiled as he looked up from his wheelchair first at her then at the reporter, "Yes it was. She took my breath away I can't imagine life without her."

Ranger stood in the background doing his best not to smile but he knew Lester deeply loved her, Stephanie was not as well controlled.

"Mr. Santos one last question. Do you know who shot you and why?" Malcolm asked.

"No, we don't know, Trenton Police and the FBI have been handling the investigation you would have to talk to them."

With the interviews over the group moved away from the reporters. Steph slid five hundred dollars in to the pockets of each reporter, they had done a great job and covered it just like Ranger had requested.

Scarlet Farley followed them to the chambers for the Justice of the Peace hoping to get some pictures of the couple after they had exchanged nuptials. Ranger allowed her to follow them in. He thought it might not be a bad idea to have a photo or two of them in the paper afterwards.

"Scarlet, any pictures you get please give me a copy or make up a photo album for them. You will be compensated for you time and trouble," Ranger asked of her.

She nodded that she would. Deep down she smiled, she would make more off of this hour to two hours worth of work than she would all week at the paper she had almost done that with the five hundred Steph slipped in her pocket. She might have to make a career change and find a way to work for Rangeman maybe doing public relations work. Scarlet was lucky to get to follow them to chambers but the fact that she had been seeing Bones for a couple years helped.

Christy and Lester saw some of her men waiting outside the chambers for the group to arrive. No way they were missing their boss tying the knot. They greeted the couple with hand shakes for Lester and hugs and kisses on the cheek for Christy. Christy looked at Eric, "I guess the shop is closed."

"What do you think?" Eric replied with a smile that told her how happy he was for her.

When the Justice came in, he reviewed the paperwork before speaking. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I see that we have plenty of witnesses this morning. I'm Justice Mark Grant. Would the couple please come forward."

Lester slowly stood, he had vowed that he would not get married sitting in that chair. He had agreed to ride in it while making it to chambers and probably on the way back out since he was going to be tired and still weak but not during the main event.

Ranger and Bobby stepped forward to steady him while he walked forward. Once there standing beside Christy he looked more stable. The Justice began once he was satisfied that Les was okay.

"Dearly beloved," he began.

Les had a smile on his face that would stop the world. Christy had seen the two hundred watt smile on Carlos, but this was brighter than that, she realized he was happy they were being married. Deep down she was too.

Since waking up in the hospital Lester had had plenty of time on his hands so he wrote his own vows. "Christy, when we met in the diner, I never dreamed I would be standing here marrying you today. You have brought a light into my dark world I didn't think I deserved. I love you and I will honor, cherish and keep you for as long as we both shall live."

"Christy your turn," the Justice quietly spoke.

"Lester, meeting you was one of the best things to happen in my life. You show me daily what a good person looks like. Remember while you say I'm a light for you, with all I have been through you are a light for me as well. I love you and I will honor, cherish and keep you for as long as we both shall live."

"Rings."

Ranger handed the Justice the rings that Lester had picked out. The Justice passed them onto Lester and Christy, then finished the ceremony. When the Justice told Lester he could kiss the bride, Lester place a soft gentle kiss on her lips that made her heart melt.

It was going to be tough on both of them to let the other go when Carlos came back but somehow they would have to let go.

Lester willingly sat back down in the wheelchair to leave the chambers after he thanked the Justice for taking time out of his day to officiate their wedding.

"Now that we are done call me Mark. How did you get shot?" the Justice asked as he sat down in a chair to be eye level with Lester.

Lester went on to tell him the filtered version of being in Ranger's car and feeling that maybe Ranger was the target, but not about Ranger being at the house with Christy. Mark asked a few more questions about Rangeman and what all the company did for clients. Lester handed him a business card and told him it would be a while before he was back to work but to call and ask for Calvin Harrison. Looking around the room Lester spotted Cal and asked him to come over. When Cal did, Les introduced him to Mark, then briefed him on what Mark was asking about. Cal told Mark about the products and services offered through Rangeman, at the end of their conversation Cal had an appointment to go to the Justice's home on Wednesday to discuss everything in more detail and to include his wife on the decision.

Christy walked over to Lester, "Scarlet wants to get a few pictures of us kissing to publish in the paper, do you think you can stand for a couple minutes more?"

"For you Gorgeous absolutely. Did I tell you that you look stunning in that dress?"

She smiled and put her hand on her chest in a 'what lil' ole me' fashion. He pulled her toward him being very gentle so as not to pull on his stitches. Carefully she wrapped her arms around him. Scarlet snapped several pictures of the couple kissing and looking into each others eyes. The favorite was with Christy and Lester's foreheads touching and their eyes closed, this picture showed a bond between husband and wife.

"Christy, you are one lucky bitch. You look beautiful in that dress by the way," Scarlet said as she winked at Christy.

Scarlet knew the truth, she had been as Shorty's the night of the party and seen Christy and Ranger with their tongues down each other's throats and was pretty sure they were having sex at the table in front of everybody. She had been a little put off about it at the time but given Ranger's looks, she would have done anything he asked too. Bones had filled her in on what had happened with the threats against them and that most of this was for their own safety. She however could see that Christy was still a lucky bitch because both men loved her.

To keep Carlos, Christy and Lester safe the entire entourage went to Shorty's to pick up a quick lunch before going back to Christy's house to eat it. Ella had made a sheet cake so they could have a small celebration after the ceremony. Pizza, beer and cake what a combo. What was to have been a small celebration turned into a huge party that took place in the basement. Some were playing pool others were playing outside in the pool. A few divided up into teams to throw darts. Scarlet was there to take a few more pictures for the couple and spend some time with Bones. Music was blasting out of the surround sound system. Manny and Stephanie were controlling the music, so they were able to dance some, Hector took a few turns dancing with Steph. The two people which everybody thought would never get along danced a couple times, Hector and Christy danced.

Hector whispered in Christy's ear, "Please take care of Lester for us while we are gone. What are you going to do when Ranger comes home? Both of them love you."

"I don't know Hector. I know both men have feelings for me, the only thing I know to do is cross that bridge when I get to it."

"You never know what goes on in their minds. They have both shared women before on missions."

"What are you saying Hector?"

"Christy, I am telling you, if you want both men when the time comes let them know. I have been on missions with them before. They have both pleasured the same woman at the same time."

Christy's eyes got big at what Hector was suggesting, but realized that he knew them on a totally different level than what she did or ever would since she would never go on a mission with them nor wanted to go on any mission with them or otherwise.

Christy went to the bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes when Lester slowly walked in. He helped her unzip her dress before running his hand over her breast. She drew in a quick breath but allowed him to continue, she stretched up to kiss him tenderly at first then it quickly deepened, neither fought it.

They had broken apart when Carlos came in the bedroom, Christy finished gathering up the clothes she was going to change into and went to the bathroom to finish changing and regroup after that encounter with Les. Lester made his way to a chair in the corner to rest a few minutes.

Carlos knew what had happened even though he had not witnessed it, "Don't forget she is mine."

"Hopefully you learn to share while you are gone. I'm not sure I will want to let her go when you get back."

Carlos quirked an eyebrow at him then growled out, "Do not bet your life on it. If she tells me to share I will, coming from you...not gonna happen."

Lester already knew it wasn't going to happen coming from him, but everything would be up to Christy and what _she _wanted. He would accept whatever she decided if and when the time came.

Christy could hear what was being said in the bedroom between the two men since she hadn't completely closed the door. The men were going to leave it up to her to decide if she wanted to be with either one or both of them. Her hormones did the happy dance. Then it hit her, the wink from Scarlet, Scarlet knew both men loved her why hadn't she seen it before now. After more thinking she realized as well that Stephanie had seen it too, she had basically said it at the hospital when she made the comment about Lester loved her more than friends should. She knew Carlos loved her but until this very moment she didn't realize exactly how deep Lester's love ran for her. How could she have been so naive? It also dawned on her that when the time came to divorce Lester to be with Carlos, it would destroy Lester. She felt panicked now, the hormones had decided to stop dancing as the reality of the situation set in. After things calmed down she would talk to Carlos and Lester separately and see what was in their minds and hearts. Hector's words came back to her, to let them know what she wanted. Could she see herself with both men really?

No, maybe, yes...Tough decision. She knew this, as much as she had said Lester would not get in her pants, a dress didn't count did it?


	26. Chapter 26

**Not mine. Just using them. Thank you goes to MyMerryMen and Rainbow Servus.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 26

Christy heard Lester leave the room when the door clicked softly behind him. She waited a couple more moments before leaving the bathroom. When she exited the room she saw Carlos sitting in a chair.

"You're still here."

He remained seated. She walked over to the bed and sat down. Carlos wasn't pissed but she wasn't sure what he was, her guess, hurt.

"I think I made a mistake with this plan. I didn't realize he was in love with me as much as he is. A few days ago I told him I loved him but it was different from the way I love you. He said he understood, but now I wonder. Carlos, how do I fix this?"

Carlos sat collecting his thoughts before he spoke and maybe said the wrong thing, the fact of the matter was he didn't know. "I am not sure. I think I told you before he loves you a lot, as much as I do. No matter what happens either he or I will be hurt. At the moment, I am afraid it will be me."

"Hector said something while we were dancing, he said that you and Lester have shared a woman before on missions. Is that true?"

"Yes we have. I have told you before if you ever want a threesome Lester is the only man I would consider being with us. Precious, when I come home if you want we will all be together, just tell us what you want. No, I do not like to share, but I will if you want."

Carlos' statement would give her a lot to think about over the next few months. She did love him the most but she had developed deep feelings for Lester as well. One thing she had reached a decision on, if she slept with Lester she would enjoy it. Christy moved off the bed and straddled Carlos' lap. He ran his hands up her sides under her shirt. Using one hand he unfastened her bra and brought that hand around to join the other in massaging Christy's breasts while kissing her deeply and passionately. Christy moaned at the pleasures she was feeling by his hands and by his lips.

Lester came back in the bedroom not expecting to find Carlos and Christy having a passionate moment. Carlos motioned for him to come over to them. Gingerly Lester knelt down beside the couple and took over fondling the breast Carlos abandoned and kissing Christy while Carlos sucked and teased on the other breast. The attention to her breasts by both men was enough to put her over the edge and into a very pleasurable orgasm. When she came back down, both men stopped the attention to her breasts.

"I presume you two have worked something out?" Lester asked.

"Lester, I have her until I leave, then she is yours. When I return, if she is comfortable with the arrangement she is _our_ wife. We will find a country where I can be married to her as well. She will have another name to add to her driver's license Christina Lauren Santos-Mañoso."

Lester smiled then asked, "So you will still be my wife when everything is done?"

Christy could tell Lester was worried that he would lose the woman he had grown to love over the last few months. She also knew that everything he said at the interview this morning he meant, she took his breath. Like Carlos, she considered her words carefully before speaking.

"Yes, I will. I'm sorry that I didn't think a lot of things through before I mentioned this crazy scheme. I also didn't realize you were as in love with me as you are. I have been thinking ever since we got home about what has happened. My intentions were to never hurt you. If we divorced, I would destroy you, I realize that now, it is not in my nature to do such an awful act. We will get things worked out between all of us."

"Ranger, you agree with what she has said?"

"Ranger doesn't give a shit. Carlos on the other hand agrees, we will get things worked out between all of us. Like I asked her, from here on when it is just us three please call me Carlos." He smiled and added, "She does not like Ranger, he is an ass."

Lester agreed to call him Carlos and was relieved that she would remain his even if he shared her. His heart had belonged to her since the first night at the beach house not that he would admit to it.

Christy noticed Lester looked tired and a little pale, "Lester are you tired, you're not looking good at all. I'm going to get Bobby."

She left the room before he could tell her yes. Carlos helped him to his bedroom and onto his bed.

Bobby came in the room a couple minutes later, "Lets get a look at you."

Lester's bandages had some blood along with regular drainage on them, nothing unexpected was on them. Lester had been moving probably too much today and needed to take the much needed rest he was about to get. Bobby started teaching Christy what to do and look for when dealing with Lester's wound then properly bandaging it. Bobby finished with Lester by giving him some ibuprofen for pain. While Lester was still awake the group discussed it being time to shut the party down so he could have some quiet while he rested.

Christy left the room and asked for everybody's attention, she thanked them for supporting her's and Lester's decision to marry and helping them celebrate but Lester needed to rest. She went on to tell them if they wanted to party some more they could go to the shop and continue there. Her crew and the Rangeman crew cleaned everything up at the house and moved the party to the shop leaving her and Lester alone. Carlos went to the shop for a while to keep an eye on things for her and to show a few of the guys the Porsche.

Before Carlos left to go to the shop Christy asked him to wake her up when he came back she was going to lay down for a while with Lester. Carlos agreed. Christy returned to the room where Les was resting and joined him on the bed. She snuggled over to him while he wrapped his arm around her. Sleep quickly claimed her.

A few hours later, a very drunk Carlos woke her up, surprised by his drinking she immediately got out of the bed so not to wake Lester.

"How much did you drink Carlos?"

"A lot."

She helped him into the master bedroom and shut the door. "Why?" she asked, she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"Nobody wants me. Steph did not want me, you don't want me see nobody wants me."

Got that in one she thought. It was just what she wanted, she mumbled under her breath about men being babies and her not needing kids now since she now had two.

"Why do you think I don't want you?"

"You married Lester, and now you say you have two kids. I haven't seen them where are those kids. Don't you think you should have told me about them? Do you keep them in an attic?"

She thought to herself, nope I keep them at Rangeman. Christy rubbed her face and picked up her cell phone. "Bobby how do you sober up Carlos?"

All she heard was laughter on the other end of the phone at first, "Put him in a cold shower after you remove his guns and knife he will be fine but pissed. Don't worry he won't be pissed at you but himself. Christy...he will be horny as hell too."

"Great just what I need a drunk, wet, pissed off horny Cuban."

That comment had Bobby laughing again. Hopefully there would be no emergencies tonight Bobby had probably been drinking too she thought. Then she wondered what the shop would be like in the morning, a lot of hand sanding going on she bet. Christy returned to the bedroom after checking on Lester to find Carlos passed out on the bed. He had a more youthful look when he was asleep she noted the worry lines she had seen around his eyes were not present. Carefully she slipped his boots off of him, he had taken his utility belt off before hitting the bed. She left him where he was laying, covered him up and went back to bed with Lester.

A short time later she heard Carlos stirring and went to check on him. Good thing she had a strong stomach, his alcohol had made a return visit. He was worshiping the porcelain goddess, when he was finished, she wiped his face and helped him back to bed. Carlos had enough wits about him to be able to brush his teeth and strip the rest of his clothes off before getting in the bed. She stripped off her robe and joined him under the covers. Bobby was right, horny was an understatement. He was more horny than when he was sober.

The next morning, she beat him out of bed which was an achievement in and of itself. After making coffee she went to the bedroom with aspirin and a bottle of water, she knew Carlos would need it this morning. He was sitting up in bed with a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I had a strange dream last night. Do you have two kids and do you keep them in an attic?"

She laughed, "Well sorta."

He winced apparently her laughter was too loud this morning. Finally he asked her to continue after he had taken the aspirin and drank part of the water.

"I do, one sometimes lives in the penthouse of the Rangeman building and the other was shot recently."

"How much did I drink?"

"Baby I have no idea, you came back from the shop that way. Bobby told me to put you in the shower after I stripped the guns and knife off of you with cold water. He also said you'd be pissed and horny."

"He is right, I would have been both. So why didn't you?"

"You were passed out when I came back in the room. After you threw up, you were horny but not pissed."

"I am sorry I lost control like that."

"Carlos, do you really thing that I don't want you?"

"Drunk Carlos might have thought that. Sober Carlos knows better."

"He better, because you are one of the men I want by my side always. If you are up for it, make love to me."

"Precious, I am _always _up for it."

She found herself under him with his knee nudging her legs apart. He slid his hand between her legs to her core, she was wet and ready for him. For his enjoyment he took a finger and circled her clit a few times just to feel her jerk and jump under him. After he was done enjoying himself, he slid his cock in her waiting body the feel of being in her reassured him that yes she wanted and loved him.

This was new water for Carlos, never before had a woman wanted him with another for long term. Stephanie always bounced back and forth until she left for California plus she had a fear of commitment. Christy's desire was different, hers was a long term commitment with both men, he had to admit he was nervous. His saving grace, he knew the other man well and was comfortable around him.

True to his word, Bobby showed up at the house around 0900. He and Christy went in to check on Lester's wound. The stitches should be taken out a couple days after the team left for the mission but in the in-term he wanted her to know how to do it. She took the bandage off, looked at it, then smelled it. Bobby was grossed out as to why she would do such a thing.

"When I have had to doctor a horse's leg, I smelled the bandage, if there was an infection you could smell it before seeing it sometimes. This is no different."

While he didn't find it appealing, he understood the wisdom in doing such a thing and it made sense, but not something to routinely do with a patient. "So you know about changing bandages?"

"It is a whole lot easier on him, he isn't dancing around like a horse can do."

"I may not be a horse, but I'm hung like one."

Bobby smacked him upside the head.

"Hate to break it to you Les, but no you are not. I can prove it later with Maverick. A miniature horse maybe." Then she whispered in his ear, "You say you are Carlos' size, so not a horse, but a very enjoyable size for me."

With the bandage changed and looking good, Bobby left.

This routine repeated itself morning and evening for the next several days. Bobby told her on Saturday not to worry about changing the bandage, it looked good enough to leave the bandage off.

Lester was getting stronger everyday and had resumed a light work out schedule. Carlos had taken time to set the spare room up downstairs with a treadmill, exercise bike and free weights. While it was not the gym at Rangeman, it was enough for Lester to start out. Eventually, he and Christy could go to Rangeman for him to workout after he got stronger.

Once Carlos returned from this mission, he would talk to Christy about adding on in the basement or expanding the room to put in a large workout area for him and Lester to use. He paused for a moment. For the longest time, Tank had been his best friend. Now it seemed that Lester was taking that spot and he was glad. After all Les was married to his spiritual wife.

Sunday came and it was Carlos and Christy's last day together. He wasn't going to be able to spend the night, the men had an 0400 flight off the roof of Rangeman the next morning. Ranger needed to stay in the penthouse. He was up at 0500 and went to workout, he drug Lester out of bed to make him go too, plus it gave him a chance to talk to him some without Christy being there.

He told him after their workout, he would make the three of them breakfast and then he was spending the day between Christy's legs making love to her before leaving about 2000 to go to Rangeman for the night. Lester questioned him as to why he was not going to have her to go to Rangeman him.

"I cannot have her there, I won't want to leave in the morning. It is a clean break this way."

Lester nodded in understanding, fine by him he thought the sooner Carlos was out of the way the sooner he would be in the bed with her.

After breakfast and true to his word, Carlos took Christy to their bedroom. They spent the day in the bed making love, talking, holding each other when the other broke down. Christy had something she wanted to give him before he left. It was some jewelry, she had them made by a friend of hers that opened a shop in Point Pleasant. Before Lester was shot and the threat made against them, she had been in Point Pleasant for another car auction. She visited her friend Sheila on that trip.

"I have been waiting for the right time to give you this, and I will understand if you cannot wear yours while you are gone."

She handed him the jewelry box for him to open. Inside was a pair of nipple clamps that could be worn as decoration or used for other things. They were made from diamond, topaz and peridot. She explained the diamond was for their love pure and perfect, topaz was Christy's birthstone and peridot was Carlos'. He loved them. The beautiful smile that radiated from him spoke volumes.

"These are better than any I would have picked out. I love to see the clamps with a chain going between them on a woman, but these are better because of the meaning behind them. I will gladly wear one."

"Carlos, even if we never get to go to another country to get married, when you put this on me I will consider us married in our own eyes."

If possible his smile grew bigger, he loved the thought of them being one. Gently he placed one clamp on her left breast then she placed one on his left nipple. He indeed considered them a married couple as well. Christy had two husbands as far as they were concerned. Together they would tell Lester sometime after while. As far as Carlos was concerned they had to celebrate their honeymoon before he left this evening.

Their joining this time was slow and pleasurable, this time was as husband and wife in their eyes. It seemed to go forever, when he would get close he would stop until he calmed down. If he could make it take forever he would. Her legs stayed wrapped around him the vast majority of this round, she never wanted to let him go. His eyes matched hers tear filled eyes the passion and love they felt for each other was deep. When they finished, they stayed joined and wrapped around each other not letting go, if they did that meant it was close to time for him to leave. The lovers were not ready.

Alas, the time came for them to leave the privacy of the bed and bedroom and face the others. On purpose, Carlos left the room without his shirt on. He knew the men would notice the clamp and he could explain it to everybody at once. They stopped by Lester's room to talk to him first. Les was happy about their commitment and walked out with them to the kitchen where a lot of the guys had congregated. Tank was the first to notice and gave Carlos a single raised eyebrow.

Carlos smiled, "Tank, what is that for?"

"Your chest."

"You have to really protect Christy, Lester and I. In our eyes, Christy is our wife. He is legally, I am spiritually."

"Thank God, I was afraid we were going to have a bear on the mission," Hector exclaimed.

Tank shook his head, if it had been anybody else he would have invited them to the mats. Hector was smaller than Tank but he was not going to mess with Hector.

Carlos and Christy went back to the bedroom to pack what Carlos needed from there. While they were in the room he asked her if she had clamps made for her and Lester, she told him she had. He gave her a single nod of approval. The closer it got to 8PM the more knots her stomach had, not that she was nervous she was going to be sad and she knew it.

"When I get home, I will have my nipple pierced and have this changed to a ring."

Christy smiled and tried not to cry. She failed. He wiped away her tears and kissed her forehead, eyes, cheeks, nose and chin before finally settling on her lips.

"I love you, I'm sorry," were the last words he said before she felt a prick and the world went black.


	27. Chapter 27

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Servus for your continued help on this story.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 27

Christy woke the next morning with a headache that would have made her think she had been drinking, except she knew better, she didn't drink. She was naked and in the bed with an equally naked man, Lester. At least one thing felt nice, being wrapped in his arms and the impressive erection nestled in between the cheeks of her ass, he was right he was as big as Carlos. Well make that two things that felt nice.

"There is two Tylenol and water on your nightstand," came a sleepy male voice.

She rolled over and took the pills and a long pull of the water. "What the fuck happened to me?"

"He gave you a shot before he left so you would sleep last night. When he left he was cussing in Spanish something about that being the most fucked up thing he had ever done to a woman that wasn't sexual. I'd say Bobby probably knocked him out when they got to Rangeman or he would have came back."

Christy mumbled and Lester realized she had gone back to sleep. He pulled her into his arms tighter and kissed her head. Sleeping was probably the best thing for her. Hal or Woody would let Eric know that Christy had been sedated and why.

Lester laid in the bed thinking and was hoping on Wednesday when he went back to Doctor Short that he would be released to resume activities as tolerated. Maybe then he could make love to Christy. They had their own marriage to consummate. He was ready and wanted to be with her on another level besides bed buddies. Cuddling was nice, but making love to his wife was better. Finally he got out of bed, slipped in the bathroom then went downstairs to workout some. Before he left Bobby had given him some simple exercises to do to help his recovery, he did those along with some power walking on the treadmill. He had not recovered enough to run yet.

Around 11AM he heard Christy coming downstairs. He looked up in time to see a very pissed off woman heading his way. "Why the hell did he drug me?"

"So you would sleep. We knew you would be upset when he left and he didn't want you to have that pain. It is really hard for us to walk away and know a loved one is hurting, he knew you would be," Lester told her. He was going to let Carlos have ALL the blame for the drugging part.

Lester moved off of the treadmill and over to where she was standing. Gently he pulled her over into his arms and against his waiting body. She gladly went to him even though he was sweaty.

"What are your plans for the day?" He asked.

"Breakfast, shower and over to the shop. Wanna go to work with me?"

"I'd love to."

While Christy cooked breakfast, Lester went to the shower, when he came back out he had on jeans and a t-shirt. They enjoyed breakfast together before she gave him the clamps like the pair she and Carlos shared.

The clamps Christy and Lester would share had a diamond, topaz and a ruby for his birthstone. Carefully he placed the clamp on her right breast and allowed her to place the other on his. As she had done with Carlos she explained the meaning behind the stones that she had selected. Like Carlos he liked the symbolism behind the stones and would gladly wear it. She kissed him deeply before going to take a shower. He was glad his appointment was drawing closer with every passing minute.

They arrived at the shop a little after noon while the guys were gone to lunch. Since they were alone, they went in the office and locked the door before going in her bay. Hector set up monitors of the cameras around the shop and house in the office and another bank of monitors in the house, they could keep an eye out for trouble. Lester followed her into her work bay where the Porsche sat, it was the first time since the incident he had seen the car.

Instinctively he put his hand over his mouth when he saw the carnage left behind. When he got to the drivers seat and saw the blood, his blood, he nearly broke down.

"How did I survive?"

"All of us wondered that very thing once we saw the car. Did you know that everybody from Rangeman and my shop came to the hospital to donate blood in your name?"

"They did that for me?" he asked with surprise in his voice.

Christy nodded her head that yes they had done that for him. He decided he needed to thank them some way. The guys at Rangeman wouldn't expect anything, it was something they all did when needed. Her crew however, didn't have to but yet they did.

"Would the guys here let me buy them lunch tomorrow as a way to thank them?" He asked.

"They would appreciate it, but it is not expected. You're part of our family and in this family we take care of each other."

"Did Carlos say anything about the car?"

"Yeah, he told me to take care of you first and worry about the car later. You were the priority. But anything directly about the car, no, not a word. He knows you are going to help me with it and you will get an education on body repair."

"What is the game plan?"

"I'm going to start disassembling it while you watch. You are not ready physically to help me." She paused a moment before blurting out, "I miss him. He hasn't been gone a day yet and I miss his voice," Christy told him.

Lester took her hand and pulled him to her. "I know you miss him, I do too. But you got me."

She smiled and gave him a kiss. "Yes I do have you and I'm glad that I do."

Feeling bold and knowing they were alone she took his hand and slid it inside her jeans. He took it out and unfastened the jeans to give him more room to work before sliding his hand back in. Slowly he found her wet heat, if there was any doubt about her wanting him it was erased. He worked his fingers around that area before sliding a finger in her. Her moaning told him how much she was enjoying what he was doing to her. "I will be glad when the doctor releases you."

He took one of her hands and slid it over the front of his jeans to his erection, "Same here."

About that time she came all over his hand. "You are beautiful when you cum. Carlos told me you were, makes me want to rip your jeans off."

"Should we try to take care of that?" She asked and pointed to the tightness of his jeans.

"Let's wait until after the doctor visit on Wednesday. In the meantime, anytime you need relief let me know," he replied and wiggled his wet fingers at her.

They went to her private bathroom to clean up. "That was fun, thank you," she told him.

He was glad he was able to score points with her and help to relieve some of the tension that was built up over Carlos' leaving and his drugging her. Les stepped out of the bathroom to allow her to finish in private, when she came out she kissed him deeply and thoroughly. He felt loved and treasured by her then he also knew he really didn't need to score points with her. She willingly gave herself to him even if at the moment it wasn't a full on love making session.

The guys came back from lunch around 1300. The couple unlocked the office door so if they were needed the men could get to them.

A short time later, Christy and Lester went out into the shop to check on where everything stood. Eric went over everything with them and seemed satisfied with the progress. Lester asked for everybody's attention, when the guys were looking at him he spoke again.

"Guys, I would like to thank you for donating blood, I had no idea at the time it had happened. Christy told me today what you all have done. Today was the first time I got to see the car. Wow, how did I survive? As a thank you tomorrow, lunch is on me. Where do you want it from?"

Someone in the group shouted "Smokey Joe's!" Others then chimed in agreeing with the voice.

"Smokey Joe's it is!" an equally enthused Les shouted back.

Christy, Les and Eric stood there talking more, she asked Eric if any strangers had came in poking around. He shook his head no. While they talked a while longer different ones of the crew came around and shook Lester's hand and told him they were glad he was going to be okay and to take care of their boss. Les noted that all of the men were carrying a side arm, he was glad to see it.

"Eric, has anybody had any problems about carrying concealed?" Les quizzed.

"Not the first one. These men love that woman, why I don't know." That reply got him and elbow in the ribs.

"Just remember you asked me to marry you first."

Eventually Lester and Christy went back to her bay to work some more on the car. She had stripped the interior out of it to get rid of the blood. She took all of the carpet out of the interior citing that in order to keep the colors matching it should all be replaced, in her opinion the Porsche should have black interior to match the exterior instead of the tan that was now blood stained. There were a few other ideas floating around in her head of things she could do to the car to make it safer for Carlos once he returned. Performance enhancing things were available for the engine and parts for the undercarriage to make it hug the road even more than what it was already capable of doing.

"There are some engine enhancements that I am going to do to take it from the five hundred horsepower it currently has to six hundred and twenty horsepower. I think it needs some over-sized brakes to stop that many horses. Plus it will need heavy duty struts and shocks, and maybe a roll bar mostly for safety. Oh, I shouldn't forget five point harnesses for driver and passenger seats. It will be street legal...barely... when I get finished with it. Never again will this car be caught unless the driver either wants it to be or they can't drive. Carlos nor you should have that problem."

Lester sat and looked at her with a deer in headlights expression. _Women aren't supposed to know this shit, _he thought. Finally he shook his head, best advise he ever heard years ago, if you don't know about it, keep your mouth shut he was going to adhere to that advice. Okay, he knew about it, but he wasn't talking.

Around 1700 the crew was closing down the shop for the day, Christy and Les accompanied by Hal and Woody walked back to the house with Eric and Joel following close behind them. She had asked them to come over for a few minutes. Like Eric, Joel had been with her for years, she preserved a lot of food for him and he had asked the other day for some grub to take home. He was to get that box today, he had a variety of food, veggie soup, spaghetti sauce and chili. Before leaving he shook Lester's hand and gave Christy a hug then thanked them.

Eric stayed a few minutes longer they needed to talk about Derrick again. Derrick was a good guy and had come through rehab well but his performance was not up where it had been. Christy asked Eric if he wanted to handle it or if she needed to. She had been trying to get him to step up to the plate and take on more responsibility in case she wasn't around for some reason. Everything going on with the hit out on her, it was really time for him to step up. He agreed to talk to Derrick, maybe there was something going on at home, hopefully it was something like that and not that he was back on drugs.

Finally Les and Christy were alone in the house. Hal and Woody were outside taking care of the animals for the evening, the garden was about done for the year except for some squash that was left. They sat on the couch for a few minutes while they were alone. "Don't let me forget to check your stitches this evening mister."

He stood up so she could check him out then, the stitches looked really good and she told him she didn't see any reason why they would not come out on Wednesday. He sat back down beside her before gently pulling her into his lap. Not having sex yet had allowed them to learn other things to do as a couple, she could snuggle up to him in his lap or cuddle up to him and have his arm wrapped around her. She had even gotten out the board games for them to play.

If Hal and Woody were hanging around some nights they could play, unfortunately they were not around much during the day, they fed the horses of the mornings and were to escort her to the shop before taking time off, they would be back on duty in time to escort her home then do chores around the farm before disappearing into the woods to be in a sniper positions for the night per Carlos' orders before leaving. Any more attempts would get them following her around all the time.


	28. Chapter 28

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Servus for your continued help. **

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 28

Yesterday was a great day, Lester true to his word bought lunch for the guys at Maximum Auto Body. The men were appreciative of the meal and thanked him again. He thought to himself he would do that also for the guys at Rangeman as a way to thank them even though it wasn't expected, it would be appreciated.

Today was a big day for him, it was the day to go see Doctor Short about his stitches coming out and find out what he could and couldn't do. Lester, Christy, Tank and Dale from the shop per Tank's request were going to Lester's appointment.

At 1100 the nurse called Les back, Christy went with him. The nurse took his vitals and told him to remove his shirt. Christy was immediately turned on just looking at his chest. Lester thought he saw a little drool run from the corner of her mouth before she shook her head to clear those thoughts out.

Doctor Short came in the room a few minutes later. "Mr. Santos, good morning, ah Mrs. Santos I see you are with him, good morning to you too."

Both replied with good morning to him as well.

"Vitals look good, lets check your eyes," the doc said. "Um hum, now your lungs, deep breaths."

He put the ear pieces of the stethoscope in then proceeded to listen closely to the even breathing of Lester's now healed lung making sure there were no abnormalities in sounds or rhythms. "Sounds good. Lets get those stitches out."

Slowly he began removing the stitches. Lester thought it tickled to feel them coming out and smiled at the sensation.

"Everything looks and sounds good, but I want to see you back in here in two weeks, until then take it easy, continue doing the exercises Bobby gave you and watch those ribs. We will take an x-ray to see how they are healing at that next appointment. Any questions?"

"Just one doc, what about sex?" Les asked.

"That needs to wait, it is too easy to re-injure the ribs, those are not healed enough. There are plenty of things you can do, but sex isn't one of them."

Lester nodded his head in understanding. He hated the answer but he did ask. The doctor was right there was other things he could do, just none of them appealed to him at the moment. There was a knock on the door before the nurse entered into the room again, she gave him his appointment card for his next checkup and reminded him that he would have an x-ray at that time. Once he had finished redressing, he and Christy left the exam room and exited to the lobby where Tank and Dale were waiting.

"Blondie, I have been talking to Dale about coming on board with Rangeman. Can you let him go?"

Dale was ex-military like most of the men at Rangeman, roughly Lester's height, built like Hal and had been a sniper with the Marines. If you were in a bar fight, you wanted Dale on your side. He was fiercely loyal to his friends and family. That is why she had suggested him to Carlos when they were looking for who attacked the Porsche and Lester. His loyalty was why she had him with the group when they went to get Carlos' beloved car and why he was with her today as far as she was concerned.

"I don't want to, but I can't exactly stop him if he decides to abandon me."

Their next stop was at Smokey Joe's again, Lester had ordered food for the guys at Rangeman as a way of thanking them for all they had done for him. He knew it would go over well, since several of the gang went there on a regular basis.

Dale went with them back to Rangeman to see if it might be a position to consider. He really didn't like the thoughts of leaving the body shop for several reasons. One he enjoyed the work he did there, two the hours were great and Tank told him that Rangeman was basically a swing shift, three the money was good at the body shop plus he got bonuses on a very regular basis and fourth and most important reason he loved Christy. It would be a decision that he would have to carefully consider and talk to Christy if he wanted to possibly leave. Deep down, he wasn't sure, Tank's offer held its appeal though.

The four were met in the garage by Ella, she brought a serving cart to take the trays of food up to the break room on five. The men hadn't seen Lester since the wedding and reception, they were glad to see him and Christy at the office or maybe it was the food they brought. Les and Christy hung in the break room and socialized with everybody while Tank made a further pitch to Dale by taking him on a tour of the building.

On that tour, Tank learned that Dale had been with Christy years before Alex came on the scene. The only man to have been with her longer was Eric, they had been joined at the hip since high school. Like Eric, Dale followed Christy to Trenton a few months after her initial move.

"Why didn't those two get married," a curious Tank asked.

"They couldn't get along as far as general life was concerned, now business _that _was a different beast all together. In business, they rock it there is a waiting list to get cars into the shop. They have been featured in several car magazines over the years which boosted business even more. If Christy doubled the size of that shop and staff there would still be a waiting list."

"Then why does she buy cars to build if she has a list?"

"Because some people don't want to wait and would rather buy one already done. They don't have to have a reason just the money."

Tank knew he had learned something. She was as smart and talented as they came and she probably couldn't afford from a production stand point to lose Dale. "How much is she paying you?"

"Probably more than you want to pay. I'm making between bonuses and regular pay ninety thousand a year roughly."

Tank lied, "You are right more than I want to pay. Best bet, stay where you are. Right now, you will do her the most good."

Rangeman could have afforded way more than that on pay, but it would not be right to take him away from a place where he was needed more than with Rangeman plus he was happy at Christy's shop. Tank finished the tour of the facilities and invited Dale to come over sometime and they would hang out in the gun range and practice. They rejoined Christy and Lester on the fifth floor.

"Blondie, you get to keep Dale we can't meet the salary requirements for him," Tank told her.

Lester quirked an eyebrow at him, he knew better the starting salary was a hundred and ten thousand a year. In a silent reply Tank gave him a scowl that said leave it alone. He decided to ask Tank later.

The guys came around to thank the couple for bringing the food and ask how Lester was healing. There was no such thing as privacy sometimes around there, the guys knew Les had a doctor's appointment that morning they asked what the doctor had to say. Some of the guys like Tank or Cal that he had hung out with from time to time he told them more than the others.

Before leaving, Les talked to Tank a few minutes alone to see what the latest was on Ranger. Tank told him the team was still in DC and would remain there for a few more days learning about recent changes in Colombia before leaving to go there, the cartel was bringing in reinforcements. He went on to tell Lester that Ranger was going to try to call before leaving the country to talk a few minutes to Christy. Hopefully she didn't try to reach through the phone to strangle him after his drugging her stunt.

"What is the big idea of telling her and Dale that Rangeman couldn't afford him? I know that isn't true."

"I listened to him talk about his job, the hours he works, how long he has been with Christy and the fact he loves her as a boss and friend. He told me if she doubled the size of the shop, she would still have a waiting list. We can always find someone with our talents they get out of the military daily, someone with talent in a paint booth is a different story. There is a certain amount of finesse that comes with it. He needs to stay with her."

Lester replied, "I've seen the way he looks at her, he does love her and would probably lay down his life for her. I agree, he does need to stay there, if for some reason Ranger and I were not there for her, he and Eric would be."

The rest of their conversation revolved around Rangeman business, Lester and Ranger living on a farm and doing farm chores, Tank's cats and the fact that Tank had broken things off with Lula on a permanent basis.

"What happened there?"

"My cats, she wanted me to choose. My cats won plain and simple. They never liked her anyway. Anytime she came over they would hide."

Lester knew nobody came between Tank and his beloved cats. He had never been an animal person until he hooked up with Christy. It was new to him, but he found himself enjoying the animals, they had a way of de-stressing you after a long day.

"I remember Christy talking about having a headache one day before she rode Maverick when she was done her headache was gone. He relaxed her."

Tank nodded his head in understanding. Not long after Les stood to leave, Tank shook his hand and thanked him for lunch. Lester left Tank's office in search of Christy and Dale, he found them in the break room talking to Cal and Junior. She smiled at him when he walked in the room and stretched out her arm inviting him to come to her once he was beside her she wrapped her arm around him, "I was telling them about the work that has begun on the Porsche."

He grimaced in reply remembering what the car looked like the other day. It was a chilling day for him. _How she could even think about or look at that car, _he thought. Then it occurred to him, she had seen worse, she had totaled her truck. Les thought about the conversation with Eric and seen the pictures of the truck. He thought at the time about how in the world she managed to survive that ordeal.

She asked him if he was ready to go home, he replied that he was. They left the safety of Rangeman with Dale driving them home. On the way Christy asked Dale if he was going to still consider going to Rangeman if they could meet his money requirement. He told her he didn't think so, he went on to tell her what he considered to be most important to him. She admitted she was glad he wasn't leaving her.

When they arrived back at the farm, Christy noticed Hal at the barn. A couple minutes later Hal called her phone and asked her to come to the barn. Maverick was acting off. Les remained at the house while Christy went to see about the stallion. A short time later Christy entered the backdoor. "How is Maverick?"

"He seems to be okay for now, we are giving him hay only in case there are tummy issues. I will go back and check him later."

They decided to watch a couple of the television programs they had recorded before going to check on Maverick again. Christy ended up curling up next to Les and slowly drifting off to sleep. When the show was over Les asked her if she was ready for another one? She snapped to attention and blurted out that she was not asleep. That got a full on laugh from Lester since he knew better, she had been softly snoring the whole time.

After the second show was done the couple walked to the barn to check on Maverick. Lester's keen eye saw where Hal was positioned in the woods, Woody however was not found. Instantly an alarm went off in Les' mind. Grabbing the two way radio he had along with both men, he keyed it to ask where Woody was located.

"Keep walking," was all Les heard over the radio. This wasn't good. There was a tension in Woody's voice that sent shivers along Lester's back. Hurrying Christy along to get to the barn, Les tried to scan the area they were passing as subtly as possible. Suddenly he noticed a red dot on her back. Without thinking he moved his huge six foot four inch frame behind Christy's smaller five foot four inch one not really wanting her to know what was going on. Since she had never lived this type of life he was afraid of her reaction and at this point he would rather deal with her wrath when she found out rather than her death.

"Why are you walking behind me?"

"Honey I wanted to watch that sweet ass of yours," he lied. Well sorta, he did like looking at her ass, but ultimately someone was going to take a shot at her and that thought shook him to the core. For once in his life he was scared that he could lose someone he loved. That was a new feeling and unnerved him, he was shaking on the inside but trying to be stoic on the outside during the whole thing.

Once they reached the barn Les breathed a sigh of relief. They had made it safely, the next obstacle would be getting her back to the house unharmed.

She checked on Maverick and gave him more hay and water. The stallion was acting better but still not a hundred percent. Christy and Les showered the horse with attention, they brushed him and combed out his mane and tail. Lester was paying more attention to what was being said on the radio however. Cal was on his way to the house with Ram.

Relief came when he heard Woody say, "Subject contained, she is safe, repeat, subject contained."

Cal and Ram were waiting in the driveway when they walked back. Woody was with him along with a man in handcuffs.

"Tank is waiting on us in the basement of Rangeman, I'll get this ass back there now," Cal told the group. A knowing look all around said this guy was going to be dead per Ranger's orders. He was not going to allow anybody to threaten his wife.

Woody gave Christy a hug and Les a handshake, "I am going back to my post. Probably should have just shot this bastard and saved us the effort."

"Lester, would you care to fill me in on what is going on?"

"Gorgeous, he was going to take a shot at you, Woody stopped him. When we came out of the house, I spotted Hal in the tree line, but I couldn't see Woody. His voice came over the radio telling me to keep walking, that is when we stepped up our pace just a tad and I moved to walk behind you," he cringed at the thought of saying the next sentence. "There was a red dot on you back, where that guy was taking aim."

"Looks like our public marriage display didn't work, or is it something that takes time for word to get to the right people?"

Lester noticed Christy wasn't crying or shaking, his best guess, she didn't comprehend the danger she was in at that moment eventually she would. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't, he wasn't sure, but her statement made him wonder.

"Gorgeous it takes time, but believe me word is out. We made sure of it. Carlos went as far as to get it on the internet. Around here we are going to have to be careful. If we stay in the privacy fence we can go out on the patio, play in the pool or hot tub, other areas we are going to have to be careful with."

When they went back to the house the realization started to kick in as she broke down to cry. "You were going to take a bullet meant for me?" she sobbed out.

"Absolutely, I can take being shot. You being shot, I couldn't take or accept. If anything happened to you on my watch, one I would kill myself because I didn't protect you with everything I had. Second, Carlos would kill me for not taking care of you. So yes, I set myself up and I will do it every time it is necessary." As her crying jag waned he continued, "Gorgeous, Carlos and I have taken bullets before to protect the ones we love. It is how we are wired. I didn't tell you from the start because I thought you might panic and either take off running or freeze in place. We needed to behave as natural as possible to allow them to believe they could do as they wanted while Woody moved in. Do you understand?"

She nodded in understanding. "Good let me fix you some tea and get you calmed down so we can go to bed."


	29. Chapter 29

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Servus for your help.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 29

The next morning Christy met Hal at the barn. Maverick seemed to be back to himself, but she still withheld grain if nothing else to error on the side of caution. She led him to his field to put him out when she noticed a bale of hay sitting there not where she would have placed it, "Hal, did you put out this bale of hay?"

"No, I thought you did. There was one out there yesterday that he ate on while he was in the field."

"I haven't put any out for him and when I do I put it in the shade so he doesn't get sun burnt."

Christy led the big pinto stallion back to his stall then went to remove the bale of hay. Hal walked out there with her. "This isn't even a bale of our hay, it has a lot of Johnson grass in it. No wonder he is acting sick, Johnson grass is toxic to a horse."

Hal got a wheelbarrow to load the hay in and a manure fork to pick up the loose pieces. Once cleaned up she put out timothy hay for Maverick to eat along with changing out his water in case it had been tampered with, then put him in the field. Hal told her he would go to Rangeman to see if anything showed up on video and told her to tell Lester what had happened.

Hal escorted Christy back to the house before getting in his SUV to go to Rangeman. Christy found Lester after he had finished his shower, she let him know what happened plus she advised Les that Hal went to look at the video of the barn. Les was pissed about the situation and at Hal.

She told him not to be mad at Hal, "He didn't realize I hadn't put it out, I wouldn't have either except I know where I put the hay. So there is more than one person threatening me?"

"Unfortunately Gorgeous, I think so. They are learning where they can go and not be seen. Carlos installed one camera in the barn, that gets corrected today. I promise not to be mad at Hal."

"So yesterday's events and today's findings related?" she asked to just confirm to herself.

"Probably so. Like I said I think they are learning. We were lucky yesterday. Gorgeous, is there somewhere you can board him for a few weeks?"

"I'd have to make a few calls but I should be able to find someplace, it is not easy with a stallion however."

Lester placed a call to Rangeman, he had Vince and Ram grab some more cameras to place around the barn. While talking to Tank he reminded him that Ram needed to start being here during the day per Ranger.

Christy left to make a call. If anybody would take Maverick in it would be Riley Cooper, he came every two weeks to work with them so they stayed the course. Maverick was predominately a woman's horse and didn't do well with men, fortunately Riley had a woman named Victoria who would help with Maverick. Riley answered after the second ring. Christy told him what had happened with the hay and someone trying to take a shot at her along with what she needed him to do. Riley agreed for her safety and Maverick's as well the stallion should be moved for a while. He told her he would be there around 2PM to pick him up.

Thirty minutes later, Maverick's situation taken care of Christy set about the house to find Lester. He was in the basement with Ram, Vince and Stephanie.

Lester asked her if Maverick was taken care of, she told him he was at a cost of a grand a month. "You're shitting me!"

"Nope, board, training, fed twice a day, turn out and stall cleaned plus the added expense of him being a full fledged boy."

Steph spoke up, "Sorry about having to send him away."

"Thank you. What are you doing on crutches?"

Before Steph could answer Christy's question, Lester spoke up, "Her and Manny were probably acting like minks in the bed." He kissed Christy before speaking again, "We are going to the barn, I will let you know when Riley gets here."

Steph hit him on his right arm so as not to hurt his injuries. Once they left Steph spoke, "There must be no such thing as privacy in that damn building. That is exactly what happened. I fell out of the bed and landed funny on my ankle, I have a severe sprain. Please not a word about it confirming it with Les, I will never hear the end of it."

All Christy could do was laugh finally she got herself under control, "I promise, not a word. Are you hungry?"

"Famished. What were you thinking?"

"Let me call Eric and see where he is going."

After a call to Eric and then to Les, Eric was going on a trip to the grocery store. The guys at the shop wanted to fire up the grill and do burgers and sides. Christy told him to use the company card to pay for everything.

"Looks like we will have a full house again."

Christy should be safe on the patio since there was a privacy fence surrounding it along with the pool and hot tub. She told Stephanie if she wanted to swim or get in the tub she was welcome to do so.

About forty-five minutes later Eric came in the back door with Lester, Vince and Ram following, all were carrying grocery bags. Eric fired up the grill while Lester checked on Christy. The ladies were in the basement watching a movie while Steph had an ice pack on her ankle.

"How is it going in the barn?" Christy asked.

"That is why I am here, Riley is here to get Maverick. I thought I would escort you to the barn."

Christy told Steph to continue the movie without her and she would return soon. Steph stopped the movie and said she would work on patting out the burgers. She realized quickly that Christy had a bunch of men working in the shop when she saw that Eric had gotten ten pounds of ground beef. Eric came in to get the burgers from Steph.

"I made thirty patties. I've got a question, if she has her own meat why did you have to get burger?"

"Because all of hers is frozen, if we had given her enough notice she would have had it thawed. She will gripe about it later," he chuckled before continuing. "Hopefully that will be enough. We have a crew that can put away the food."

Steph understood that it was similar to feeding the Rangeman crew, she knew Tank alone could eat three to four burgers depending on the sides. Eric grabbed a couple packs of hot dogs out of the fridge just in case they were needed. Even though she shouldn't, Steph hobbled around the kitchen getting out bowls for the potato salad and macaroni salad then others for various chips. Finally she found herself getting out condiments for the burgers, Christy had a container with different compartments where she put tomatoes, two types of pickles, cheese, onion and lettuce.

Christy meanwhile carefully wrapped Maverick's legs to help protect them on his ride. to Riley's facilities. Riley led Maverick out to the trailer to load. The stallion balked at Riley leading him. Christy stepped out of the barn to take the lead from Riley when a shot rang out. Luckily it missed everybody but lodged in the wall of the barn. Hal and Woody were closest to Christy and knocked her to the ground covering her with their bodies.

Lester, Vince and Ram had their guns drawn as well as Riley. Eric and Dale came running towards the barn scanning the tree line like the rest of the men. Dale spoke up, "In the woods eleven o'clock."

Ram spoke, "Copy target located. Commander I have a clear shot."

"Shoot to wound, I want answers," Lester replied.

One shot was fired and the subject went to the ground. "Get him out before the cops arrive," Lester ordered.

Ram and Dale went to load the target and haul him back to Rangeman. Lester held Christy while she tried to gain her composure. All she kept asking about was where Maverick had gone. Riley found the shaken horse in the garden. Blood was coming out of one nostril, while he worked to calm the horse he began looking for the source of the blood. With the bleeding finally stopped, Riley came to the conclusion that Maverick had hit his nose on something while running and caused a nose bleed. That could easily be dealt with.

Lester got Christy calm enough to tell her that Maverick was in the garden with Riley. She surprised Les by not asking to go to the horse, but asked that the horse be brought to her. Riley led Maverick back into the safety of the barn where an anxious owner started checking her trusty steed over. Riley mentioned the nose bleed, Christy agreed with him that it looked like Maverick had hit his nose on something. The stallion was fine otherwise.

"Les would it be safe to load him now?"

"It should be. Just be quick."

To make things easier and safer, Riley turned the truck and trailer around and backed close to the barn doors, straight shot out of the barn and on the trailer. Once the big pinto was secured on the trailer, Christy handed Riley a check for board.

"Christy, I love ya, but please don't come see him until you are sure there would be no surprises. I don't want my barn shot up, it wouldn't be good for business."

"What about the horse show next weekend?"

"Vic can ride him. She won't charge you for it. Sweetheart it is not safe for you or him right now."

Christy nodded in understanding, but it didn't make her any happier. She didn't like the thoughts of someone else riding her horse even if they were not charging her the customary hundred dollars a day. Tears welled in her eyes as she said good-bye to her equine child. He was ten years old and had never been away from her or the barn except for shows.

Dale and Ram arrived at Rangeman with the would be assassin limping and bleeding. Ram had shot him in the knee. Tank met them in the garage.

"I will have your bonus check for helping out and keeping Christy safe as part of the arrangement you have with Ranger. Anybody else need a check too?"

"No Eric was there but he didn't spot the shooter, just myself and then Ram."

Tank led the shot man towards the holding cells, later he and Cal would pay him a visit and see if he was in the mood to talk. Dale and Ram left to return back to Christy's place.

"Are you working for Rangeman?" a curious Ram asked.

"Eric and I are keeping a closer eye on Christy for Ranger until Les is back to a hundred percent. Then I don't think we will be needed."

"Don't bank on it. Somebody was in position last night to take a shot and Woody apprehended the guy. There was another incident to, somebody put out bad hay for the horse and it wasn't the guy who tried to take her out last night. We will see about this guy today."

Ram didn't say anything more but left Dale to think about what was going on with his boss. With what he learned from Ram, Dale agreed. He and Eric would still be needed.

Dale liked Ranger, he hated the fact that his relationship with Christy put her in danger, but Ranger was looking out for her. While they were looking for those responsible for Les and the Porsche, Ranger hired both Eric and Dale to be extra security for Christy. He told both men he had run background checks on them and they were the best suited and most likely be up for the task. The only thing he asked in return was not to let her know. Upon his return home, both men would return to their duties solely at the body shop. Neither had a problem with that arrangement. For now it was an extra two thousand a week straight into savings for him.

Ram and Dale went directly to the house after Les called to tell them lunch was ready. Christy's shaken nerves were finally settling and she took care of Stephanie since she had set up a serving table for the food. Steph had taken a seat on the couch so she could prop her foot back up, Christy fixed her a plate and brought her a fresh ice pack before getting Steph some lemonade. With the day Christy was having she opted to only eat a hot dog so to keep there from being much on her stomach in case she had a migraine.

"Do you think Les will have you go to Rangeman?" Steph asked.

"I hope not. The place is fine but it is not my bed even though I am sure it smells like Carlos, I really want to just stay here if possible."

Steph thought back to when she was with Ranger, his bed smelled distinctly of alpha male and Bvgulari. "I am sure you can stay here, with the guys around I don't see a problem. If you do have to stay at Rangeman, I am there most days. We can hangout together. It would be nice to have another woman my own age. I am not knocking Ella but she is older and we don't have a lot in common."

"My luck Tank would give me the task of taking over Rangeman payroll. They don't use my system and I don't want to learn theirs. I have heard him and Carlos talk about the pain in the ass it is. In this situation, ignorance is bliss."

Both women laughed at the thought of all the paperwork the guys deal with, well it wasn't funny but they laughed anyway. After lunch was done and leftovers stored Christy felt the beginnings of a migraine. Trying to cut it off before it got full blown, she took her medicine to try to stave it off. Vince, Ram and Lester had gotten the cameras installed before everything went down. After helping Christy clean up the kitchen Steph and Vince had left leaving Les and Christy alone. Ram went to find a spot in the woods to keep an eye on the house.

Lester had been strangely quiet this afternoon. She knew he was thinking about what had happened at the barn and how close of a call it had been. Knowing this, she gave him space to process everything at his own pace. She had calmed down but if anybody mentioned it she got upset again, she understood his behavior. Before she went to lay down she looked for Les, eventually she found him in the basement doing the exercises Bobby had left for him. She stood watching him for a few minutes, admiring the view in the basement. Christy noticed the muscles in his back how they rippled as he lifted the weights, in her eyes he was equally as magnificent as Carlos. Both men had scars from injuries over the years, but to her it didn't distract from them if anything in her eyes it enhanced their looks. They had led a life of doing things not just sitting behind a desk.

"Like something you see Gorgeous?"

Oh yeah...


	30. Chapter 30

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow for helping me.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 30

After no more attempts on Christy for the last few days, the men around her started to breathe a little more easily. The two men that had tried to take shots at her had yielded no real results. They were locals who had learned about the bounty on Christy and Carlos through the street, neither had been hired by the cartel. They were hoping to make a quick buck but it didn't turn out that way for them, they were ultimately handed over to authorities and charged.

Carlos called her two days ago before he left the country, she was so glad to hear his voice she didn't fuss about his having drugged her. He told her he was sorry she was having to deal with the 'hit shit' as he called it but assured her that she was safe as long as she kept listening to Lester. Before wrapping up the call he let her know that with Eric and Dale's military history and training they would be bodyguards for her. He had hired them to do that while he was gone and she let him know she appreciated them being compensated by Rangeman. It made her feel good that not only did she trust these two men but that Carlos did too. He ended the call with tender voice telling her he loved and missed her, surprisingly he stayed on the line until she finished saying she loved and missed him too. Both people wanted Carlos to be home soon, but knew it wouldn't happen for months. She was relieved that at no time during the call did she hear Ranger, only Carlos on the line.

Lester had his next appointment in the morning with Doctor Short to do x-rays on his ribs and get another check up. This evening however was game night, Vince and Stephanie had come over to play Monopoly and brought pizza. Apparently Christy had a true head for business. She whipped them. Before they left Stephanie helped Christy clean up the mess they had made from dinner.

"How are you doing?" Christy asked Steph and nodded towards her still wrapped ankle.

"For some reason it is not totally healed, Vince asked me to go to a specialist suggesting maybe it had a hairline fracture or maybe a nerve is pinched. How are you doing without Carlos or Maverick around?"

"Surviving, Maverick won his division last weekend, I saw the video, I'll show it to you if you want. He did well for Vic. If nothing else happens the rest of the month, I will bring him home. I'm doing alright without Carlos, I obviously miss him but I have a pretty good substitute with Lester. He is funnier than Carlos but when need be, he can be just as intense. I don't see Carlos ever truly enjoying playing a board game like Lester does."

"Ranger is a hard core poker player. Don't ever play him, that damn blank face is why he is so good."

"Yeah, he whipped the socks off of me one night in Go Fish of all things," Christy replied.

That statement put Steph in a fit of laughter, the thoughts of Carlos playing Go Fish was hysterical in her mind. She finally started to settle before speaking again to Christy, "I can see him being a card shark in that game."

This set off a fit of laughter in both women. Lester and Vince came to see what the women found so funny. Seeing Christy laugh made Lester thrilled, she hadn't had much to laugh about the last couple weeks, it did his heart good. Stephanie got her composure barely when she told them what was said. The men found humor in that but didn't have the fit of laughter the two women had shared.

Lester and Christy went to bed not long after Steph and Vince left, Les had a doctor's appointment at 0900 in the morning. The plan again was for Tank and Dale to accompany them to that appointment.

The following morning Tank showed up with two Boston Cremé doughnuts for Christy along with coffee for everybody. She thanked the big man and gave him a kiss on the cheek, she left a powder sugar kiss mark on him. Lester teased him all the way to the doctor's office about it. "Hey it isn't everyday I get kissed by a gorgeous woman," Tank finally told him.

Christy blushed at the remark but appreciated the compliment. They arrived for the appointment a few minutes ahead of schedule. Before letting Christy exit the SUV Tank called for backup. "What is wrong?" a concerned Lester asked.

"We were followed. Black SUV at your two o'clock."

Dale exited the SUV to make his way over to the other SUV by circling around behind the building. Two minutes later he called Tank, "I got a tag number, VTW 542."

"Copy that. Hang on," Tank replied.

Tank placed a call to Rangeman and gave Bones the tag number.

"Vehicle was reported stolen this morning, repeat, vehicle stolen. I'm reporting it now, hold tight. Back up will be there when you leave his appointment."

Dale continued to wait out of sight of the two men in the SUV, Tank told him to stay where he was and what Bones had told them. Five minutes later, Eddie and Big Dog arrived and approached the SUV, without incident the men were removed along with a nine millimeter and a rifle. They were arrested for the stolen vehicle and carrying unregistered firearms.

Lester and Tank then allowed Christy to leave their SUV. They would have an escort home when they left the office. The appointment went off without a hitch. Lester was told that his ribs were healing right on schedule. Doctor Short increased some of the exercises he wanted Lester to do and come back in two more weeks to do another x-ray on the ribs. Again Lester asked about sex, he was a very frustrated man when he heard the reply. He complained that he was going to forget how to do it if he had to wait much longer.

A very smart ass wife replied, "I will remind you if you forget."

This got a huge lopsided grin out of Lester and an evil twinkle in his eyes, he pulled her to him then kissed her before letting go. She knew she would be in trouble once he was cleared to resume those activities and he would hold her to it. The nurse brought in his appointment card for his next visit before they left the room.

Out in the waiting room was a sea of black, in addition to Tank and Dale, was Cal, Hal, Bones and Woody. The plan was an SUV in front of them and one following. Tank had not heard from Eddie or Big Dog if the men talked so he was not taking chances on Christy's safety, he wasn't spending the rest of his career at Rangeman getting the shit beat out of himself on a daily basis if something happened to her.

When they got back home all of the men came in to talk to Les about his doctor appointment, while they talked Christy made brunch for all of them. She went ahead to make enough for the guys in the shop, she knew they would come over if she called. Deep down she loved having all these men around, she felt like a bit of a mother hen to them and was starting to feel that way about the Rangeman staff. Tank told Les and Christy they were leaving. "Not before brunch, none of you are leaving," she informed Tank.

"We need to get back," he replied.

She glared at him. He decided that they could eat before leaving since he had received a Jersey death glare. _For not being native to Jersey she had that glare down pat_ he thought _or maybe all women come with that._ Ten minutes later brunch was served. They ate everything, there was nothing left. Tank smiled at Christy, "You need to make biscuits for us more often, those were like the ones my momma used to make. I'm glad you made us stay."

Christy smiled, "Anytime big guy, I would be glad to make you breakfast, just not at 5AM. Brunch this weekend if you are game."

"I'll be here," Tank told her. Some of the other guys chimed in asking if they were invited. She told them of course they were.

"I need a count by Friday," she told everybody.

Tank confirmed he would have a head count from the office for her, Eric agreed to the same for the shop. Soon after the dishwasher was loaded and running. The men had all gone to their respective jobs leaving just Lester and Christy alone in the house.

"I believe every plate we own is dirty, but I loved having everybody around. Hopefully Steph comes Saturday morning."

"Gorgeous if you like having her around, I will make sure she is here. What is on your agenda today?"

"I need to do some work at the shop, are you coming with me?"

"Sure but can I do my exercises first?"

Christy agreed and she would start some laundry. She wondered how something as simple as laundry made her feel...normal. Normal was something she had not really felt in a month.

The laundry finished washing before Lester was ready, Christy loaded it into the dryer and started the next load. She wanted to hang it on the clotheslines but knew under the circumstances she couldn't. When the sheets finished in the washer she decided to ask Lester to hang them on the line. Nothing beat the smell of fresh line dried linens. She folded the load of clothes from the dryer and asked him to hang the sheets, he agreed but mentioned something about losing his man card.

"Beats getting your ass kicked by Carlos if I got hurt."

He had no comment to that but silently agreed that Carlos would kick his ass. After the sheets were on the line and he had the ribbing about hanging sheets on the line like a good housewife, he radioed to Ram and Dale, "Fuck you. We are coming out of the house and going to the shop."

Dale came out to scan along the front of the property while Eric went towards the back to scan that area. They made it to the shop with no incident.

Lester arranged for a fencing contractor to come in and add chain link fence around the house for Hemi and Dakota. The German Shepherds might deter anybody from trying to get in the house. When it was finished he was planning on having the privacy fence expanded around the pool and hot tub to include a little more area. While the need for it was short term, the benefit from it down the road would be nicer.

Christy was working on the Porsche when Tank called, Lester answered the phone and immediately stilled. She could tell by the expression on his face she was not going to like what she would eventually hear. She was right. When Les hung up the phone, he asked her to come into the office and wait there while he went to get Dale, Eric and Ram. They came in the office only to come face to face with a very intense Lester.

"Guys, we have a problem. The men from this morning were not trying to take Christy out, they were going to kidnap her. They were hired by the cartel, these guys were from Newark. Eddie and Big Dog said they admitted to there being more watching her and learning her habits. If Christy is outside the walls of the house or the shop there needs to be _at least_ two of us with her at all times. Are we clear on this?"

They all replied that they were clear. The men knew Christy couldn't really go to Rangeman to stay, she had this shop to run even though most of the time it ran itself and Eric could oversee when necessary. Customers coming in didn't want to meet the manager they expected the owner to be there. Luckily for everybody trying to protect her, these customers were scheduled appointments. Very rarely did someone just show up.

The guys went back to work leaving them alone in the office. "Baby, are you okay?"

Tears ran down her face, "Was it ever this bad on Steph?"

"A couple times yeah, but it was not because of Carlos it was other reasons."

"What do we do besides what you just told them?"

"At this point, we do the only thing we can. We protect you, keep you safe, are hyper-vigilant and take out the problems. I think it might be wise to keep Maverick where he is for now. Both of you are safe. One last question, have you heard what is going on with Derrick?"

She shook her head no, "Why?"

"His name was mentioned in the interrogation at the station. These guys said they knew where we were going to be and mentioned getting the info from an employee named Derrick."

She hung her head, "I guess this is my one who has failed." Lester quirked an eyebrow at her and she continued, "He failed a drug test a few weeks ago, I sent him to rehab. He was clean according to the reports I received from the facility. A couple days ago, Eric said Derrick was acting off, I guess he is back to using or is working for the cartel. Either way, I can't keep him around. I need to get Eric back in here to see if he talked to him."

Lester went to the office door and hollered for Eric. He came in the office a few minutes later. Christy asked him if he had talked to Derrick.

"No I haven't had a chance, I was trying to get the Harvey's car finished. What's up?"

Lester went to tell him about his phone call with Tank and what he had learned about Derrick. Eric was surprised that Derrick would be involved but not shocked, "Did you see him at brunch? He didn't hang with Steve or Paul like he usually does, he was acting sullen and stayed alone."

"Let's send him for another drug test, see what we get. If we can let him go that way, we will, if not, we will come up with another way. He agreed in his contract anytime, anyplace for a random drug test and he could be singled out since he has a history," Christy suggested.

Eric agreed to escort Derrick for the drug test and quote company policy. Everybody thought it would be best for Christy's sake to keep her out of it as much as possible since they were not sure what was up with Derrick. If it came down to firing him, Eric said he would accept the responsibility of doing so.

Lester also mentioned if the police want to talk to him that could work to the body shop's advantage, he could be arrested. It wasn't the best way to handle it but he was right, it would work to their advantage. With a quick phone call Lester had the info they needed, the police wanted to talk to him.

They quickly devised a plan. Eric would escort him to the Urgent Care for the urine test. In the meantime, Lester would have Eddie and Big Dog come here to wait on Derrick to arrive back. They could then take him in for questioning. Christy, Lester and Eric could come up with a plan after they knew if he failed the test or if the police wanted to keep Derrick around at the station for a while.

Once the cops had taken Derrick to the station, Christy called a meeting with the rest of the staff. She wanted to know what they had seen out of Derrick over the last few weeks. Several of them mentioned that he had been very standoffish and had stopped hanging around with them. A couple others mentioned him taking picture of Christy when she wasn't paying attention, while two more mentioned seeing him on his phone a lot texting. None of it boded well for Derrick.

Lester felt the guys had been truthful with them, "Guys, two men were apprehended this morning in an attempt to kidnap Christy. These men mentioned Derrick by name, if there is anything else you can think of, please, PLEASE let us know."

Anthony spoke up, "He was talking about getting a big payday and then he was quitting here. That was this morning."

Lester thanked him, he had heard all he wanted to hear. It seemed something had gone major league wrong with Derrick and Christy was suffering because of it.

Not being sure of what exactly to do, Lester called the fence contractor back, "Can we change that fencing to six foot? I will pay and extra five hundred if you start it today or an extra grand if it is finished tomorrow."

The contractor agreed. Lester was treading in unfamiliar territory on not knowing what to do. Usually his decisions didn't involve things near and dear to his heart so he was detached from the emotional side of the situation. He knew his steps had to be made carefully and be calculated. This was his wife's life on the line.


	31. Chapter 31

**Not mine. Thank you MyMerryMen and Rainbow Serevus for your help.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 31

Eddie had told Lester and Tank that he would let them know what came from the interview with Derrick, for now it was a matter of sitting and waiting on a call from Eddie. Christy continued working on the Porsche for the time being keeping her mind occupied and not dwelling on Derrick.

Later Lester, Eric, Dale, Hal, Woody, Ram and Christy all sat down to a meeting. The meeting was to come up with an action plan in the event an unscheduled appointment came in or really anybody including people like the UPS driver or another delivery driver. If a scheduled client came in Christy, Les, and Eric would meet with them. Otherwise it was determined Christy would stay in her garage bay with the rolling door locked along with the side door to the bay as well. Making the only way then in or out through the office. Eric would handle anybody else that came through the door no matter who. It was decided that a through the wall air conditioner unit would be installed in that bay to keep it cooler since it would not have as good of ventilation because of the doors being kept closed. Her office door leading to the hallway would be kept locked. A camera would be mounted over her office door and would be checked before anybody was admitted to those rooms. Basically if anybody wanted in with her, they would have to call first so the doors would be opened, no call equaled no open door. Cameras would be mounted over each door on the outside of the building with monitors in the office just to verify who was at any of the doors around the facility. Lester of course would remain with her at all times. Lunch breaks were going to be tricky since usually all of the staff went at the same time. Christy would either have to remain locked in the two rooms or go to the house during those times. Later in the day Ram would install the cameras over the doors as planned. Dale was going to get the air conditioner on his way home.

Instead of her and Les walking to the shop in the morning, someone would come pick them up and return them of the evening, they went as far as having planned a couple SUVs come to the house at different times so if someone was trying to learn a routine it would be difficult. The SUVs would pull into the garage at the house, while over at the shop they would be driven into the building and given enough time to allow someone to get out and unload any other items needed before being removed. All of it would be a pain in the ass, but there really was no other choice. Another plan for the SUVs was on occasion Les would accompany the first SUV while Christy remained at the house with Ram. Patrols from Rangeman came through every thirty minutes or so, it was never a scheduled time to hold down on patterns, these went on around the clock. While some things would be extreme, in Lester's mind it was worth it to keep his and Carlos' wife safe.

_This was going to be a headache but at least I could continue doing what I needed and maybe I won't feel like a prisoner, _she thought.

Christy received a phone call about Derrick. Forty eight hours had passed since he went for his test, the results were back they were not good. He tested positive for cocaine. As it turned out, Derrick was not working for the cartel, he just had a big mouth. The payday he was referring to, was a drug deal he was working on he finally admitted. Eric did as he told Christy he would. He fired Derrick quoting company policy and Derrick's contract as he did. Naturally Derrick was not happy but he had brought it on himself. As Derrick was gathering his tools to remove them from the shop, Eric notified Eddie about the drugs. When Derrick exited the building with the last of his tools, Eddie and Big Dog were there to arrest him for drug possession. A search warrant had been issued and search was under way at Derrick's rental home where a felony amount of cocaine was found, it had a street value of four hundred thousand dollars in addition they found twenty thousand dollars in cash stashed throughout the house. He was going away for a long time.

It was later learned that Derrick wasn't working with the cartel on trying to kidnap Christy, but he was working with them on dealing drugs unbeknownst to him at the time. It was a relief to Christy to have him gone.

Living in a rural area had its advantages, if a strange car was parked alongside the road abandoned people noticed, such was the case a few days after Derrick's arrest. A Rangeman patrol came through as Christy and Les were going to the shop. Cal was on patrol with Bones, they told Les to hurry up and get her in the shop. Cal's voice was heard over the radio calling in a plate number, SDC 256, '05 Ford Taurus.

Tank replied, "Stolen, repeat stolen. Where do you see the car?"

"Quarter mile from Christy's," Bones told him.

Without Lester telling anybody to do so, the garage doors were being lowered and the building was going into lock down. Eric, Dale and Ram were looking around the outside of the building. Cal and Bones continued driving slowly scanning the woods as they went. Eric motioned for Dale to go with him, Hemi and Dakota were going nuts in the side yard. Eric called on the radio for Ram to tell him where they were going and asked if he could see anything. He replied back to check the oak tree, that was where the dogs were.

When Eric and Dale arrived at the tree with guns drawn they found a man stuck in the tree. The man screamed for them to contain the stupid fucking dogs.

"These stupid fucking dogs as you called them were smart enough to let you in the yard and not let you go," Eric replied.

The man kept trying to go higher in the tree after Hemi drug his teeth across the heel of his shoe when he jumped a couple times trying to reach the stranger. Finally the man fell out of the tree. Hemi and Dakota were all over the man but never actually bit him. Eric called them to him and put leashes on them as Cal and Bones approached the yard. Bones slapped handcuffs on the man before asking what he thought he was doing.

"I am installing security cameras for this house. It was ordered by Mr. José Sanchez for his residence."

Upon hearing the name it left no doubt they had their work cut out for them. Cal asked him if he had installed cameras any place else on the property. Mr. Jones of Regal Security replied that there were two in the shop and one already installed in the barn. He had been a very busy man this morning.

"I rang the doorbell but nobody answered, so I just got to work," he told Cal.

Cal radioed Lester to have him come to the house. Once there Mr. Jones repeated what he had told Cal. To say Les was pissed off would have been the understatement of the century.

"Mr. Jones, this house is protected by Rangeman Security, it is mine and my wife's home. You will show me where all the cameras are installed and they will be removed. After that you will be escorted off the property, you will not come back. If we see you on these grounds again you will be arrested and charged with trespassing. Do I make myself clear?" Les used a commanding voice that left no room for negotiations or questions.

Les intentionally left out the part about him going to visit Rangeman's holding cell until everything he said could be verified after that, they would probably let him go if everything checked out and Tank felt he was not holding back any important information. Les nodded to Cal, and Cal in turn escorted the man to the waiting SUV. Something didn't add up in Les' mind if the car was stolen and this man was here, he couldn't have been legit. He would get his answers from Tank later.

_This constant influx of people coming after Christy would eventually take its toll on her mentally. What else can I do? Word was on the street that Christy and I are married, they had it on the internet and had made it public in the newspapers. There wasn't anything else I can come up with at the moment, _He thought and became more frustrated.

Dale hung back to start taking down the cameras after Mr. Jones showed them the locations of each camera. It spooked the big man that this guy been in the shop and had arranged excellent angles of each camera. Except when she was in the office or her bay she was on a camera if she was at the shop, the same could be said if she was in the barn. The camera in the tree would have been pointed right into her's and Les' bedroom. Dale thought it might be wise to mention to Les that these cameras could possibly feed into what Rangeman saw and transmit back to the cartel as well since one was in the Rangeman line.

When Dale took the cameras to Lester he mentioned the one camera that was tapped into the Rangeman lines. Les shook his head. He needed to call Tank, looked like they needed have Silvio to make sure they were not hacked by the cartel. It was shaping up to be a long day and it wasn't even noon yet.

A couple hours later, Mr. Jones was singing like a bird, not surprisingly he admitted his name was not Mr. Jones but Mr. Ethan Jackson. Regal Security was real but he no longer worked there and had not for a month. He had been paid ten thousand dollars by the cartel to install the cameras and hack into the Rangeman system if possible. Like the others, he was turned over to the Trenton PD for processing. He was going to have several charges on him, stolen vehicle, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, stolen property for the cameras and finally trespassing. The conspiracy charge may not stick but Eddie said he would do his best to convince the prosecutor to go for it in light of the previous attempt.

Tank called Les to bring him up to speed on the latest. At this stage Lester was getting a headache, no surprise there all of the recent activity was taking a toll on him as well.

For Les lunchtime finally arrived, it was decided he and Christy were going to the house for a couple hours at least but he would prefer the day. Les was still battling his headache and needed to get away from the garage for a little while. Christy confirmed with Eric that he was handling anything that came up around the shop, she was done for the day. Ram drove them to the house after scanning around the area that nobody was around another nice thing about the rural setting. Once at the house, Christy made lunch for herself and the men. Ram ate his lunch before leaving to go back to the woods and his sniper position.

After a short nap and with Christy holding and spoiling him, Lester started to feel better. "Baby, can you show me _how_ to spot someone in the woods like Ram."

"Sure come here," she walked to the backdoor and looked out. "Now, do you see anything out of place at a quick glance?"

She shook her head no. _"Scan_ the woods closer, look for anything out of place again."

"I don't see anything odd or out of place."

"I'll give you a hint, look towards eleven o'clock."

Slowly she scanned the woods in that area, getting frustrated she finally gave up.

"Keep watching that area. Ram wave at the house," Lester asked Ram over the radio.

"What, Why?"

"Christy is trying to learn how to spot people in the woods."

Ram waved. Christy smiled when she spotted him, it wasn't a big wave just movement and that was all she needed to see he was in a tree where he had the best vantage point. She waved back and he stopped.

"Tomorrow teach her to look in the trees and not at just the ground," Ram said.

"Gorgeous is that what you were doing, just looking at the ground line?"

"Yes, that was all I was doing. I guess I need to expand my search area and think like a sniper."

"Yes you do," came over the radio. "I can read lips too, before you ask binoculars."

She mouthed to him thank you.

"You're welcome, Blondie."

Mentally she planned in the morning to try again to spot him if he was in the woods before she left the house. It would be a game she and Ram would play of the morning so she could learn. She and Les moved away from the door and into the family room downstairs. He kicked her ass at pool, but she got her revenge on darts.

The couple enjoyed a simple dinner of baked chicken, baked beans and corn on the cob for supper. Finally, the stress of the day was easing up on Les. While the food baked in the oven, they stood in the kitchen and held each other drawing strength from one another. It held a particular calming effect on him this evening, he could almost feel her trust she had in him. There was no fear coming off of her in the house. He prayed that never changed.

"I hear your heart."

"What is it saying Gorgeous?"

"Love you, love you, love you."

"Yes it does along with the rest of me." If possible he pulled her closer, this is where she belonged with him...and maybe Carlos, but for now she was all his.

"I love you too."

Hal and Woody were back and in the woods for the night keeping watch over them. Both men prayed for a quiet night, for themselves and for Christy and Lester. They knew Christy had been through enough and it was more than Stephanie had ever endured. Also they knew there was a huge difference between Ranger and Lester. Ranger always wanted to be on the streets taking care of things himself, Lester on the other hand would stay with his assignment. He wouldn't leave Christy's side to do any searching or go out leaving her alone, Ranger would have left her alone or locked her in Rangeman. With all that had happened, Lester was who she needed. Gladly they had the couple's back.

Friday finally arrived and the end of the work week. In the time between the visit with Mr. Jackson and today, nothing else happened. Somehow they needed to get the word to the cartel that Christy was off limits, but how.

At breakfast, Christy confirmed that Bones was still seeing Scarlet. "I have an idea."

"Lets hear it Gorgeous."

"The Impala is done. How about we raffle it off for charity? Proceeds go to the Trenton PD and the animal shelter. Scarlet could come to the shop to do an article on it. We could also get Malcolm Timmons too."

"I like that idea, we don't have much money in it and it would support two great organizations," Eric told her.

"Les, what do you think?"

"I think it is an awesome idea Gorgeous. Let me make a few calls today see what I can get arranged. Where would people go to get entries?"

"How about the Police Department, the shelter, maybe Pino's and Shorty's. That has the four points covered. Oh and Smokey Joe's."

Les went to call Tank while Christy called Stephanie. "Yo, how are you today?" came over the line.

"Wow aren't you miss Susie sunshine, how many cups of coffee have you had Steph?"

"Not nearly enough. What's up?"

"I need some help."

"Need to escape, is Les driving you nuts? Either way, I gotcha covered."

Yep too damn perky this morning, Christy thought. "I have an idea. I presume you heard about the other day."

"I did. Never boring around there."

"We have decided to raffle off a car. Maybe have Scarlet come out along with Malcolm Timmons to do a story. What I need from you, would be to have you go to the Police Department, and the animal shelter see if they are interested in the raffle. If so, then go to Pino's, Shorty's and Smokey Joe's to arrange for them to sell tickets for the drawing. The proceeds will help the PD and the animal shelter. What do you think?"

"Christy why are you doing this now?"

"We are trying to get word to the cartel that I am not Carlos' woman but another man's wife."

"I see. That might work. It would certainly draw a lot of attention to you and Les again. Let me work on it and I will call you back later."

Les and Christy met back in the kitchen. Eric was waiting to see what the determination was going to be.

"Tank thinks it is a great idea. He wasn't crazy about the reporters being at the shop, but he realizes it needs to be done in an effort to try to get you some peace."

"Steph is going to be our liaison. She agreed to talk to the PD and the shelter, if it is a go she will talk to the other places about selling the tickets."

"Lets see what Steph and Tank come up with. Are we going to the shop or are you staying at home?"

"We have work to do at the shop. These guys want paid today I am sure."

Eric was in agreement, he would like to be paid today. He and Ram escorted Les and Christy to the shop. "Guys don't forget tomorrow is brunch day!"

Both men smiled, they hadn't forgotten.

Tank called Christy at lunchtime, "I got a count for you for brunch in the morning. There will be eight of us."

"Sounds great, there will be six from the shop plus Les and I. That will be a nice group."

"What are you and knucklehead doing for lunch?"

"Staying locked in my little hideaway. Why?"

"I'll bring lunch and be there in a bit."

"Call when you come down the hall or we won't answer."

Yeah! Lunch!


	32. Chapter 32

**Not mine, just playing with them if they are JE's. Christy and the garage crew are mine. Thanks Olivia for your suggestions.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 32

As promised, Tank showed up with lunch on his way down the hall he called Les. A very hungry Lester met him at the door after he knocked and was verified on the screen. Two Pino's pizzas with mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage and onions, plus a two liter of Coke.

Christy gave the big guy a hug, "Tthhaannkk you for lunch, I was dreading a sandwich for the umpteenth day in a row."

With chairs around her desk, they sat down to eat. Today they all moaned, it was what they all needed. Fat, calories, cholesterol and taste.

"Blondie, the reason I came over, was to talk to you for a bit. I received some bad news this morning after I talked to Les. Derrick was found in his cell dead this morning from an apparent suicide. Eddie called me and asked that I come tell you."

"Derrick wasn't suicidal. Are they sure it wasn't cartel related?"

"At this point they don't believe so. Coroner's report will confirm or raise suspicions, when they get the report they will decide on a deeper investigation."

Christy was shocked at the news but kept it together. Les wondered if everything she was enduring was hardening her, he hoped not. She was a light for him and Carlos.

"My gut tells me he had help. He was just not the type, he had a positive outlook even through the mistakes," she said while shaking her head and sorting out what she wanted to say next. "I mean, yeah I wanted him gone from here when he failed the drug test but he knew he had brought it on himself. I would have still given him a positive recommendation with another employer, he knew that, Eric told him I would. He was good at his job, the whole staff here knew it. Tank, you will let me know if you hear anything else, right.? Maybe pass on to Eddie what I said about him not being suicidal it is just not adding up."

"I promise. I also heard from Ranger this morning. He is proud of you for listening and doing everything you are asked to do. There is a list of questions I will be giving Scarlet and Malcolm should the raffle take place. He said he wished he could call you but he didn't have time. I am to quote this verbatim, I love you. Now I don't, well I do but that is from Ranger."

Christy laughed, "No that was from Carlos. Who knows about Ranger, that persona is an ass as I have said before. If you talk to him again tell him verbatim, I love you too."

That caused her and Lester to break out in a fit of laughter the thoughts of Tank saying I love you too, to of all people, Carlos or Ranger.

"Ya know I would be pissed except I know the stress you two have been under and I know you need the laugh. I know that is why you are laughing because of what she said," Tank shook his head in mock disgust. He was surprised Christy had held it together as well as she had.

Christy regained her composure, "Tank you have no idea how much we needed a good full on laugh. I don't think I have laughed in days. Thank you. At least you don't have to kiss him."

That threw Les into another round of laughter. Tank shook his head again while he tried to ignore the couple but he couldn't suppress his own grin. He took a few minutes to look at the progress Christy had made on the Porsche, while he was looking at the car she explained a few modifications she had made to the car and the others she would be doing before it was done. She had worked hard on it, he could tell. "Now if the ass doesn't get himself killed driving the thing," Tank commented as they returned to the office to continue shooting the breeze he also told her that he thought Ranger would be thrilled.

Tank hung around until Eric and the crew came back from lunch then made his escape after giving Christy a hug and kissed her forehead along with that weird man hug thing that guys do to Lester. They thought it had been great to have him around for a little while even if he was bearing bad news in Christy's opinion.

The rest of the day was peaceful and quiet, Christy worked on adding some of the accessories she had ordered for the Porsche. She installed the brakes and struts along with the shocks. Yesterday Steve had welded in the roll bar during the afternoon while she and Les were at the house. Christy was waiting on the performance parts for the engine, carpet, and harnesses so she could install the new seats. The phone rang in the office. It was Eric, he had parts for her.

Lester met him at the door. Eric brought in the fender and needed to go back for the new door. He had already had them primer application, but wanted to wait until they were installed on the car to paint them. Christy's plan had been to sand the entire car and paint it all over so everything would match. As Eric helped her install the fender she told him about what happened to Derrick. At first Eric didn't answer, but before leaving, he told her not to beat herself up over his death, she was in the clear he assured. The plan for the door had been decided, they were going to install the door after the interior was finished.

At the end of the day, Christy and Lester stood looking at the car. She was pleased with the progress, "It is beginning to take shape and looks better than when it arrived."

Les agreed with her. He had begun helping her here and there with little things like handing her tools and helping her lift things into place. For him, it was helping him to feel like he was getting back to himself, plus it helped him to know he was giving Carlos his car back.

Eric and Dale escorted the couple back to the house for the evening before leaving work. While Christy was making dinner, Les grabbed a quick shower. Once he was finished he took over cooking duties while Christy showered.

They had just sat down to dinner when Stephanie called. She had spoken with the police department and the animal shelter, they were on board. Tomorrow she said she would go to the restaurants they wanted to set up in and see if they would help with the raffle. She told Christy and Lester that she had spoken with Scarlet and Malcolm. They were thrilled to help with this project citing that everybody loved a feel good story and they looked forward to hearing from Tank.

Scarlet agreed to prepare Christy like she did the last time. The interviews were slated for Friday at 10:00 AM and Scarlet was coming over to the shop on Thursday to prep Christy. That would give them ample time to work on the interview questions. It had also been arranged that both reporters would receive the same fee of five hundred dollars for their time. Once done talking to Stephanie, Christy called Eric.

"I need for you to go over the Impala, as it stands we have interviews on Friday and they will want pictures of the car for the paper and the television as well as the internet."

"So it is going to happen?"

"Looks like it. Les and I hope it stops a lot of the bs."

They finished their conversation before hanging up a couple minutes later.

Once dinner was finished, Christy jotted down some of the highlights of the car to have them handy. The Impala was a '67 model with a 327 engine. It was an SS which helped the value of the car since that SS meant that it was a Super Sport. A Flowmaster exhaust gave the car a nice rumble that so many people associated with that style of classic car. The interior had been totally redone with bucket seats and console in the front. If it was being sold, the asking price of that car should be around twenty eight thousand dollars with a cash price of twenty six thousand after the negotiating was done. Whoever wins the car was going to have quite the ride.

Thursday breezed by with no problems. Eric had gone over the Impala and found everything to be perfect. Christy and Les spent the day installing the carpet in the Porsche that arrived earlier that morning. After the interviews tomorrow they would begin putting the newly reupholstered seats and harnesses in the car. Things were beginning to take shape and looking up for the interior.

The phone rang in the office, it was Scarlet. Lester let her in the office and immediately offered her something to drink. After Les had gotten her a bottle of water, she sat on the couch and waited for Christy to wash her hands. A few moments later Christy walked in the room.

"Wow, they have you in here like a prisoner. How are you doing?"

"We are doing good. It feels like a prison sometimes but with Les here it is not bad. I don't have the doors open so nobody can just walk in. Since you are here, I presume you heard from Tank."

"You are correct. We will start off with details on the car and why you chose to raffle it off. From there we will move on to married life and whats next, then how Les is healing and finally about you having to deal with people trying to kill you."

"So give me the first question."

"Mrs. Santos tell me about the car you are raffling off. You will tell us the year, model and other things people will find interesting and draw them to want to enter the raffle."

"I have all of that written down, so I am good there."

"Okay, from here on, I want you to answer just like this was the real interview. I wasn't too worried about the car, I knew you would have that handled. Next question, Why did you choose to raffle off the Impala?"

"People love Impalas. We chose it because we felt it would have the best draw or to put it another way, people associate with them best. For many out there it reminds them of their parents talking about having one or their grandparents, so it is kind of sentimental for a lot of folks. The proceeds will be split between the Trenton Police Department and the animal shelter. The PD needs to order body cameras for all of its officers. To keep it a no kill shelter, the animal shelter needs donation. Every year I try to donate money to them. Both of my dogs came from the shelter, so I hold it near and dear."

"Mrs. Santos, you and your husband were married a couple months ago at the courthouse. How is married life?"

"Married life is wonderful. Lester is a big supporter of the police and that is why the proceeds are being split."

"Okay, that was a good answer but let's focus a little more on the married life part at the moment. What Ranger wants is for you to take his hand, I'll describe in my notes what I witnessed before you begin replying to me. As you answer slide into the fact that Les is still healing, then we will move to more about the being shot."

"Got it. Married life is wonderful, it has been a big change for both of us. We have endured a lot in the short time we have been together. If you will remember Lester was shot just a few days before our wedding was to have taken place, so the date and location was moved. But we made it happen and have been trying to enjoy it since. It has just been really difficult."

"Very good, I liked the hand holding and looking at each other while you spoke, you look like a couple very much in love. Friday, do it again and I want a picture like that. You gave a very good lead in for the last question, I like that it will flow seamlessly. Mrs. Santos, you mentioned about Mr. Santos being shot, what has gone on since then that it is making it difficult to enjoy married life?"

"Wow, where do I begin. After his being shot, I was leaving the hospital with my bodyguards only to find one of my tires had a knife sticking out of it with a threat. As you remember of course we got married the same day he came home from the hospital. A few days ago, someone tried to poison one of my horses. Fortunately they were not successful. We have had somebody try to take a shot at me a couple times. There have been a couple more incidents, but it is really getting old."

"Why do you think they are after you?"

"People believed there was more going on between myself and Ranger Mañoso than him just being my bodyguard. If there was something more, would I have married my now husband?"

"I guess not. I have one more question. What is next for Mr. and Mrs. Santos?"

"Excellent question. I guess mostly it depends on how well he heals, which currently he is recovering nicely according to the doctor. What I want is to lead the nice quiet life I had before people were under the impression I was with Mr. Mañoso. I want to be able to leave my house and not have someone take a shot at me or try to kidnap me. Eventually we would like to start a family."

"Jeez, answer those questions like that tomorrow and it will be great. Christy I am sorry I have not gotten this to you before now, but I haven't been around much."

Scarlet pulled a photo album from her messenger bag and handed it to Christy. When she opened it she saw tons of pictures from the wedding. Lester came over and stood beside her as she looked at each of the photos. As she looked at the pictures there were several of her looking up at Les with love written all over her face. He smiled and nodded his approval at each of the photos she had selected.

"Scarlet would it be possible to get some larger photos of a few of these?"

"Absolutely, which ones are you interested in?"

Christy proceeded to show her several of her and Lester asking for 8x10 copies, namely the one of them with their foreheads touching and eyes closed. A couple of them while they were exchanging rings, one of them just after they had kissed. One of her and Carlos together, then one of the three of them together. In that photo they looked like husbands and wife. Carlos' and Lester's suits matched, to her it was perfect. That one she wanted in an eleven by fourteen print.

"I should have them in a few days. If I can't get them to you I will give them to Bones. I love the ones you wanted made into larger prints. The three of you look happy together. I expected Ranger to not be happy, but he is happy in those pictures."

"I know he wanted to be the one standing there and not Lester, but it was done quickly to keep me safe and the fact that he knows I love them both helps. He also knows I would have stood beside him and married him, still will anytime anyplace."

"Like I said that day, you are a lucky bitch."

Christy smiled, she knew she was, both men had proven that to her over and over again.

After Scarlet left, Lester and Christy relaxed in the office. "I hope this works. It is getting really old being stuck in here day in and day out. It wouldn't be so bad if the doctor would release me at least then I could attack you every so often," Lester told her while throwing in his eyebrow waggle.

Christy snuggled closer to him on the couch and began kissing on his neck. "I agree. The company I have is wonderful however and makes the day much better. You have your next appointment in a few days, the doctor should release you. We will have our honeymoon then and we will enjoy it. I promise."

"It is going to suck that we won't be able to go anywhere."

"The privacy fence will be done by then. There is skinny dipping in the pool, playing in the hot tub. All kinds of honeymoon things we can do."

"Gorgeous, I like the way you think. We can do all of that, I can chase you around the house, make love to you in every room. It will give me a chance to catch up to Carlos. Don't even deny it, there is probably not a single room that he has not had you in."

Christy smiled, "You're right. Every room, are you going to be up to the challenge?"

The wolf grin that spread across his lips told the story, Christy knew he was going to do his damnedest to make that happen. Knowing him she thought he would try to outdo Carlos and try to make it all in one day.

He asked her to get up for a moment before he stretched out on the couch, "Lay down here on top of me."

She did, both proceeded to fall asleep almost immediately. When she woke up she had two strong arms wrapped around her, loving his warmth she closed her eyes again and drifted back off, not remembering the nightmare of Alex tied to a bed that had woke her up in the first place.


	33. Chapter 33

**Not mine, just using. Thank you Olivia for your help.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 33

As they walked through the dense and humid rain forest Ranger noticed the flowers. Beautiful hues of reds and pinks littered the jungle floor. There was other types of flowers in gorgeous shades of blue with others in brilliant hues of purple, Christy's favorite color. The blue colors stuck in his head reminding him of the beautiful blue eyed woman in Trenton he longed for, she was so far away from this place and he wished he was with her. It felt like they had been wandering around this jungle for an eternity when in reality it had been three days. Before coming to this God forsaken jungle, they had spent a month in training to prevent fuck ups but anything and everything that could go wrong did. They just spent the last forty-five minutes backtracking because Rich had read the compass wrong. How the hell do you read a compass wrong he wondered. Bobby looked at the sun and told them they were going in the wrong direction otherwise they would still be going the wrong way. Thank heavens his second in command on this mission looked up.

As they were backtracking several shots rang out, they took cover to keep from being spotted. How did someone find us or was it just coincidence, Manny didn't think so. The shots were far enough away to know they were a good distance from them, but close enough to hear easily, was someone trying to push them in another direction he didn't know. Regardless, they were too close for comfort especially since they all could tell it was a high powered weapon. Ten minutes later a Jeep came barreling down the road close to where they had been walking minutes before. Ranger began moving through the trees more in order to camouflage themselves after that.

Ranger decided that once they returned to Trenton he had a decision to make, he would either terminate Rich or no longer have him as part of his team, providing Rich made it back. Most of the problems they had experienced were because of Rich's mistakes. Ranger never experienced such incompetence from any of his men. He had prided himself on selecting the best of the best members to be on his team, when the served together Rich was top notch, Ranger wondered what had him so sloppy now, Rich just wasn't himself and it showed. He had asked Hector to keep an eye on him since Hector usually brought up the rear of the group and Rich always seemed to be right in front of him.

Things were so wet in the jungle, it caused them to have to use extra precautions while moving around since their feet could get tangled in the root systems of various plants and trees that ran on top of the ground. Twice Bobby had tripped on the damn things. Their legs have been wet from the knees down since they arrived and so miserable since they landed here. In different areas they sank almost to their knees in the wet muck there was a constant sloshing sound as they moved through the compost of the decaying leaves on the jungle floor. Checking for leeches had become a daily ritual. They averaged removing ten to twelve a day from their legs and feet. Keeping their feet dry was impossible, their boots never got the chance to dry out.

Suddenly a green and yellow parrot screeching sent them running for cover until they realized it was only a damn bird. Ranger grumbled something about fucking birds and hating it here. Silently he wished he was home with his wife where the only thing screeching would be her in ecstasy as he tasted her or made love to her.

That was not the first run in with wildlife they had experienced while here. Manny came close to being bit by a snake, a big fucker too. It was their dinner that evening. Manny regretted he couldn't get the skin back home, it would have made a nice pair of python boots for himself or Steph. It wasn't the first snake they encountered and they were sure it wouldn't be the last. Anytime they could have some of the wildlife like snake it helped their other food supplies last longer not to mention a good source of protein. They were trailed by a large cat for a while, the leftovers from the snake dinner was left for the feline, even though they never saw it they heard it scream a couple times indicating it was close by. Ranger didn't care that the cat had been lurking around, he looked at it as his spirit animal, since it had been said he moved almost cat like.

Last night they had to deal with a troop of monkeys running around in the area they located that was dry for their camp. Ranger finally nodded off with thoughts of Christy going through his mind. A monkey ran over his legs and slung what he determined later to be poop. Yeah, another great night in this fucking jungle he thought. Manny warned everybody he was going to fire a shot to scare the aggravating things off. Afterwards the men settled in while Manny had the first shift of guard duty, later he was replaced by Bobby, then Ranger and a scary gang banger after him. It was Rich's night off. Tomorrow night it would be Ranger's night off.

The following morning, Ranger woke to find Rich missing. "Hector have you seen Rich?"

"He left just before daylight. He said he was going out to scout a bit. I personally don't believe him. Ranger there is something wrong with him."

Ranger replied with a single nod since they could see Rich walking back into camp.

"Where the fuck have you been?"

"Scouting sir."

"I did not order any scouting to be done, we are not to be separated until I say so."

"Sir, I found a trail we could follow, it is much drier than the muck we have been in."

"No, we do not follow it. Get your gear packed. Dismissed."

Ranger was not sure what was going on but he knew he was not taking that path Rich had supposedly scouted out something was off with that man. After each man consumed an MRE, they moved out for the day's hike. In less than two days they would reach the wall around the compound and begin monitoring the daily movements of the guards and other staff. They needed to learn if there were any set patterns of movement, when the guards shift changed and how long and often Sanchez left the compound.

There were several firsts for Ranger on this mission. First of all he left a loved one at home, that he really longed to be with, second: one of his team members was off way off, third: things kept happening that had the men on edge more than normal on a mission he attributed that to the second thing. The tension the men were carrying showed on their faces. Hector had his lips drawn into a thin line, Manny squinted his eyes more than normal, Bobby's tension showed through his eyebrows being drawn down and Ranger, well Ranger looked normal but not the normal blank face but his normal scowl he carried. If any of the men faced him though they would only see the blank face, the man was a master of hiding emotions and concerns.

All of them were thankful that the ground they were walking on was somewhat drier than the ground of previous days. It was great news in fact, it meant no foot prints and they could cover ground more quickly since they were not sloshing or sinking. However the closer they got to the compound the more they need to watch for trip wires, pit falls and snares all could land them in serious peril and alert the cartel.

RJRJRJRJRJRJRJ

Meanwhile at the Sanchez compound, scouts reported back that the mercenaries were closing in and only about a day out at their current pace. They also reported that the trap had failed. Ranger had not taken the trail they wanted. Another plan was needed to eliminate Ranger and his men.

"Mañoso is a bullheaded conceited ass. Why does he have to be so difficult? Was it really to much to ask for him to walk into that trap?" José asked to anyone standing near.

"No sir it wasn't. The man has always done his own thing," one of his crew replied.

Sanchez added, "We have tried and tried to get his girlfriend, that hasn't worked. They have it going around in Trenton she is married to one of Mañoso's flunkies. Like that would fool me."

"Sir another article is in the papers and on the internet about a raffle they are doing on a car. The article talked about their marriage and how they have adjusted to married life. Really if you read the articles, she is not his girlfriend. Ex girlfriend maybe, but not current girlfriend. Forget about her."

"Let me see that article," José said as he took the computer out of the man's hand.

Carefully José read the articles that were marked for him. There were pictures of the car that was being raffled off along with pictures of them at the animal shelter picking out another dog to take home. The article that had been written especially for the internet had about forty pictures of various things, the car, them, the new puppy named Holly Bella, some of the new cameras for the PD. The pictures of the couple he was drawn to and studied closely paying particular attention to the background photos. He was looking to see if there were any pictures of this woman and Mañoso. There wasn't. Finally after about two hours of looking carefully at each photo he conceded, their marriage was legit. She was not Mañoso's woman she was in love with this Santos guy. Mañoso had been a bodyguard all along.

"FUCK! Call off the hits on her. There is no point wasting my money on her when it would have no effect on Mañoso," José declared.

"I will call the guys off. Do you want them to come here?" his second in command asked.

"No. I have my half brothers Felipe and Alejandro here along with my sons. We should be good. I want Trenton watched for a couple more days before I do any movement out of there. The cameras were found and removed, but we have a couple men in the woods around her place. So far nobody has noticed them."

RJRJRJRJRJRJRJ

He was wrong on that account, Ram had noticed them and was making plans with Cal, Hal and Woody.

José decided to focus all of his attention on Ranger and crew, there had to be someway of getting him removed from action. The man they had on the inside had failed to encourage Ranger enough to take the path that would have led to the ambush point. His men reported back that they waited until noon, Ranger should have been through there by 10AM. If the inside man couldn't do what he had hired him to do, José would have him taken out.

The trip wires and pits had been finished. While the wires would do nothing more than alert them to the arrival of the mercenaries, the pits were the best bet. They were deep enough for wild boar plus with the bamboo spikes in the bottom, they would work for a human as well.

RRRRRRRRRRRR

Rich had his work cut out for him. He hated the deal that he had made with the cartel but the money he would earn would allow a very nice and comfortable early retirement. It also bothered him to be double crossing a man he had known for years, he and Ranger had served together along with Bobby and the other core team members. His decision not to continue pushing Ranger to take that path this morning could be his downfall. The cartel would not take it lightly that the carefully laid out ambush would not happen. That was going to come back on him, whatever they asked of him next, he would have to accomplish or he would be eliminated by one side or the other and that would change his plans for early retirement. If only he had stayed away from the hookers earlier on in his time with Rangeman he would have a nice nest egg and no debt. He chided himself and thought he should have paid attention to Santos, he never paid for pussy. Now he had managed to marry what he suspected to be a great piece of ass.

The back up plan for him was to find a way to let the cartel members know when they were around the compound and Ranger's exact location in the woods. Sanchez was really only interested in Ranger, he felt with Ranger being eliminated the others would scatter to allow for easy capture. He knew Sanchez didn't know the Rangeman crew.

Rich was fairly certain Ranger knew something was off with him, after all Mañoso was not a stupid man but he had not confronted Rich with his suspicions not that he expected Ranger to ask him. If his cover was blown, Ranger or Hector would kill him not leaving a single trace, he knew it. He lulled himself into thinking Ranger didn't know, a mistake that would cost him later.

RMHRMHRMH

Ranger, Manny and Hector got a few minutes alone together while Bobby and Rich stepped away to take a leak. "Tonight after we stop, I am confronting Rich," Ranger told them.

"We got your back. What is the plan?" Hec questioned.

"Confront, determine if he is telling the truth and then possibly eliminate if we decide he is lying," Ranger shared with his team.

Ranger may have said 'we' in his statement, but it meant himself. Bobby and Rich rejoined the group. Manny was going to let Bobby know somehow what they had discussed. It wouldn't be hard, just complain about something bothering him, Bobby would go into medic mode and run everybody off for a couple moments.

"Bobby, do you have anything for gas?" Manny asked.

"Are you sure it is gas? Let me look at you," Bobby replied. Perfect.

Once alone with Bobby, "There is nothing wrong with me, look all of us are concerned that Rich is off. Ranger is going to confront him tonight after we have made camp for the night. Then based on his answers..." Bobby cut him off, "Eliminate if necessary."

"Yeah. We had all agreed but we of course wanted to talk to you as well."

"I agree. Everything that has been fucked up on this mission has been done by him. Personally, I think he is trying to tell us without breaking confidence with someone else. If it is not that, it is because he is too nervous," Bobby responded still in a form of medic mode.

He continued checking Manny over since everybody was watching. "I think you're correct just a touch of gas, heart sounds good." Finishing up Bobby handed him a couple mints so Rich saw Manny taking something.

Later that evening after camp was made and MREs consumed they were sitting around the dying embers of a small fire. The men were able to see Rich's face as the confrontation began.

"Rich, there seems to be a problem with you, what is it?" a blunt Ranger asked.

Rich stammered around before saying nothing was wrong. Immediately all of the men knew he was lying.

"Rich, I am asking you again, what is the problem?"

Looking at the ground, Rich said that there was nothing wrong with him, his head was just not in this mission. It was still obvious that Rich was lying.

"Rich, this is the last time, what is the problem, I want the truth, are you working for Rangeman or the cartel?"

Sighing, Rich knew that he had been mistaken Ranger knew it all, "Both sides, I am working for both sides, I'm sorry. I owe a ton of money and they made an offer that would take care of all of it and I could have a decent retirement. What I have learned, it wasn't worth it. I have betrayed the men I trusted most. You were right not to have taken that path, it was a trap."

Ranger shot a quick glance at Hector. Even though the light was dim, Hector caught it and knew what Ranger wanted. Rich didn't realize that the gang banger had moved behind him. With one quick stroke of Hector's sharp knife, Rich had no more debt and no more life either.

Everybody in the group was cross trained on each others job. Rich's job had been navigation, Hector volunteered to take on that responsibility in addition to his own which was communications. Hector could take two pieces of wire and build a telecommunications station to reach the moon. Bobby's was naturally, medic, Manny was sniper, and Ranger was the brains of the mission and could do everybody's job.

It bothered Ranger to have to take out one of his own men, he had never done that before but under the circumstances he couldn't and wouldn't chance anyone being loyal to the cartel and leading his team towards danger. There was also loved ones back home waiting for their safe return. In his mind the choice was simple. He simply eliminated a serious threat. It would be impossible to ship Rich's body home for proper burial, so they did the best they could and buried him there in the jungle.

They settled in for the night, Ranger taking the first shift watching over camp, Manny was up after him. It was going to be a long night for them.


	34. Chapter 34

**Not mine. Thank you Olivia for being my sounding board.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 34

Ranger woke Manny for his shift of sitting guard over the camp. It had been surprisingly a quick three hours especially since nothing happened. The cat that had been following them a day ago was back, Ranger heard it prowling around the outskirts of the camp. It was probably going to dig up Rich and haul him off, Ranger suspected. Not that he could do anything about it except kill the animal. Something he could not and would not do, the animal was doing what came naturally. He let Manny know it was out there before turning in for the night. After Manny's shift, Bobby was next on duty for his watch. Naturally Manny briefed him on the cat so there were no surprises.

The next morning, Bobby told Ranger about the cat being around all night even though it didn't come close to camp. He then asked about Rich's body. "What are we going to do about him?"

"There is nothing we can do. It is not like we can take him with us when this mission is over. As bad as I hate to say it, nature will have to take it's course here. We will give him a memorial service when we get home, it is the best we can do."

Bobby nodded and agreed with Ranger.

They made their move a short time later for the last leg of the journey to the compound. The mission may become a little harder with the elimination of Rich but not that difficult since his loyalties seemed have been with the cartel. No matter what side he favored, some of the best were still alive and ready to continue on. The goal for the day was to make it to the perimeter wall of the compound by night fall.

LCLCLCLCLCLCLCLC

The breakfast Christy had promised Tank went off without a hitch. With him, Stephanie and his six men plus the six from her shop there was a lot of cooking to do. She outdid herself, everyone enjoyed their food. With Lester's help, they had made a feast, bacon, eggs, sausage, gravy, hash-browns, tomatoes, cantaloupe and last but not least biscuits, the item that got it all started. As they ate it was relatively quiet which was a surprise to her since her crew was usually vocal.

_Finally something good, _she thought as she looked around the room at all the people gathered. Rangeman and Maximum Auto Body together and all blended together pretty well. She smiled as she looked at sea of black with the exception of her, Lester and Eric.

Once breakfast was over, Tank and Cal offered to help with the dishes, Steph had tried to help but Tank told her it was his idea to do breakfast. They each took on a task and cleaned up when the last plate was put away the remaining members of Rangeman and the body shop sat back down at the table.

Random stories were shared of what had happened during the week, then moved to embarrassing stories of Ranger, Lester and Tank. Those proved to be hilarious with the help of Lester, who acted out some of the scenes.

Early in the afternoon, the remaining people bid Lester and Christy a good day. Christy told Tank next month same thing, breakfast. The big man smiled and hugged her. Lester told her later, that was huge for Tank, he never showed emotion just like Ranger but surprisingly he had with her.

RJRJRJRJRJRJR

Ranger and his men made their destination and doing what came naturally, surveillance. For a couple of days they watched and paid close attention to the compound staff working through their routines, shift changes occurred promptly on eight hour intervals. There were two men per watchtower, on the ground there was four men that walked the border during that time, they alternated between walking and watching in the tower every two hours. For the last two days José Sanchez had not been seen outside in the open grounds. Blueprints had shown a courtyard in the center of the home, to get fresh air and sunshine maybe he went there, Hector would have to find a way for them to have eyes on that courtyard.

The simplest plan had been to wait for José to leave the compound and fire on the vehicle he was in. Unfortunately, the Colombian government didn't have the intel to let them know how often he left. Ranger had a few questions that wondered through his mind about other ways to eliminate Sanchez: One; Did he have a girlfriend? If so, did she live at the compound or did they come and go. Two; If no to the girlfriend, what did he do for 'relief'. Did he pay for a piece? Three; Was he even straight? Lastly, Doctor, did he ever need to go to one and did he have a regular one? Where was the closest?

Ranger figured if he had a woman, she probably stayed there. If Sanchez had sent her away it would be because he knew Ranger was coming and it would be for a short period that she would be gone. There was no intel to let him know if Sanchez was straight, but from the pictures he had seen of José, he guessed he was. That left the doctor route, if he could set Bobby up in the closest village that plan would work.

With Bobby posing as a doctor, one of them could inflict a wound on a cartel member requiring a doctor. Bobby could be brought to the compound to treat the injured man. That would give them the inside man they needed.

He sent Bobby and Hector to the closest village, as luck would have it there was no doctor in the area. Bobby and Hector secured an abandoned building to open an office as it turned out it had belonged to the last doctor who left the area shortly after the cartel arrived. Bobby started setting up a practice and ordered supplies under one of his aliases. The supplies were delivered three days later, then his office was complete. The plan was after a month, something could happen at the compound to create the need for him to make a visit, he could install some cameras possibly or agree to remain in there to help take care of the injured man.

To hold down on suspicions, Ranger and Manny stayed away from Bobby and Hector. They risked meeting only at night and only at a small abandon shack on the outskirts of town. It sucked for Ranger and Manny, they didn't have the luxuries Bobby and Hector had since there was a small apartment over the office. At least they got a hot meal once a day from the guys when they met.

It didn't take long for Bobby's practice to get off the ground. His first patient was a hunter who had been attacked by a wild boar while hunting for food for his family. Bobby got him stitched up and supplied him with antibiotics. After word got out, the practice flourished. It was only a matter of time before they would get a call from the cartel.

LCLCLCLCLC

Meanwhile, back in Trenton Lester had his next and hopefully last appointment with Doctor Short. The caravan of black SUVs left Christy's at 0945 hour to make the 1030 hour appointment. Hal and Dale were in the first SUV, Tank, Christy and Lester were in the middle while Ram and Cal brought up the rear. Things had been quiet since the raffle had started and all the articles had been released, but they were still not taking chances.

The two men who had been watching Christy had been interrogated by Cal and Tank two days ago after being captured. Rangeman learned by means not disclosed to anybody, the men were the last. Their mission had only been to watch and report back to Sanchez, the kidnapping and/or hit on Christy had been canceled. Fortunately for these men they were not dead but in jail on stalking charges and a few others made up by Eddie and Big Dog. After dealing with Rangeman, they would have probably admitted to knowing where Jimmy Hoffa was buried just to get away from Tank and Cal.

Lester patiently waited with Christy for Doctor Short to come in after the nurse had checked his vitals and gone over his chart with him as standard protocol. A grouchy Lester fussed about having to go over his chart after the nurse left. Christy stopped him by asking one question, "When you capture a fugitive, what do you do?"

"Well we take him to the police station, then turn in paperwork to whoever we are working for, like Vinnie for example, afterwards we fill out our paperwork, it is standard... fuck.. protocol. Ya know I hate it when you make me think and walk me into a trap," he told her as he pulled her to him.

Doctor Short walked in looking over the chart the nurse had minutes before, "Well good morning you two. I bet Mr. Santos you are tired of seeing me. So before you say anything lets see those ribs."

Lester removed his shirt. Christy had to divert looking at him or else she would drool everywhere seeing his eight pack abs. "Let's send you to x-ray see how you look on the inside. Everything feels and looks good on the outside."

With the x-rays done it was a matter of getting the results back. While they were waiting, Christy took the opportunity to run her hands over his broad chest and learn her husband's body just a little more. Luckily, Lester was sitting on the table which covered his erection when Doctor Short came back in the room.

"Mr. Santos I have some good, better and great news for you. Which do you want first?"

"Lets start with the good news even though I would prefer to hear the great news first."

Doctor Short laughed before speaking, "You don't have to see me again unless there is a problem, the better news, you are completely healed and for the great news. You and your wife can now have your honeymoon."

"Hallelujah, let's go home Gorgeous!" a very happy Lester exclaimed.

After calming down a bit he added, "Thank you Doctor Short. I hope I don't see you anytime soon. At least not under these circumstances."

"Same here. You have been a wonderful patient and you are lucky to have such a supportive wife. Take care." Without another word, Doctor Short left the room. Immediately, his nurse came back in and handed him his release paperwork.

A smiling and happy Lester left the office with Christy on his arm, he had formulated a plan in his mind for the rest of the day. They would stop off and pick up some food to eat at the house and spend the rest of the day in bed. He wanted to make love to his wife desperately and perhaps repeatedly.

They asked Tank to stop at Shorty's for pizza before taking them home. On the way the discussions in the SUV ranged from Lester's doctor's visit to security for Christy now that it appeared the threats against her was over.

"Blondie, I feel it is best for now to keep your security detail in place. I don't want this to be a ploy to get us to relax our vigilance over you. Cal and I believe the men were telling us the truth, but I would rather error on the side of caution when it comes to you. I don't want to be shipped off to a third world country if something happened that could have been prevented."

"That is not a problem Tank, I agree we need to keep the security detail in place for now. This goes no further than here, but please remember, I'm not Steph, I won't get frustrated with having extra guys around. Having the doors closed on my end of the shop causes me get lonesome sometimes since it keeps me from interacting with my crew, but it has forced Eric to step up and take on more responsibility which has needed to happen. Plus I do have Les with me so I'm not totally alone. Honestly it is not a problem, as long as it is not overtaxing your staff at Rangeman."

Lester shot her an evil grin chased by an eyebrow waggle. Christy knew what he was thinking, he was her perv after all.

"I have permission from Ranger to bring on our most trusted contract workers if need be to fill in at Rangeman. The company's first priority was and still is your safety. He told me he didn't care if all of the regular staff was assigned to protect you if that is what it took to keep you safe. Rangeman will be fine. And Blondie hopefully this will make you feel better, the men assigned to you, all volunteer to work their days off just to keep you safe. We all care that much about you."

Christy sat there stunned, just thinking about what Tank said to her. That was the most she had ever heard out of him at one time and she didn't mean words. It was the most _thoughtful_ words she had heard. She knew her crew cared about her, but to hear that these other men cared left her speechless. Finally she formulated in her mind how she wanted to reply.

"They care that much about me?" Okay so maybe she didn't have as well of formulated statement as she thought.

"Yes. They care that much. These guys know where all the fresh veggies come from that Ella has been cooking for them. Christy think about the men who were at breakfast Saturday. They are the ones who are around all the time. You preparing breakfast for them... shows that you care for them just as much and you appreciate them as well, especially in a world where not many people do care for them."

"I really do care about each one of them. They have all taken time to show me various things I can do to be aware of what is around me. Ram and I play a game of the morning, I try to spot him in the woods while he is watching over me. I can spot him now in about fifteen minutes down from the thirty minutes when I started. Hal has started playing the same game." She chuckled, "I'm no better with Hal. Woody has been helping me target practice. Steph has been a friend, listening to me when I have been cooped up too long, I think she has about twenty ways of helping me escape if need be." She paused for a moment to think, "How do I show them I appreciate what they are doing and giving up, I mean other than cooking for them?"

"Just keep doing everything that you have been, listening, learning, cooking and showing them you care. We are simple men to please. Well except maybe the two you have saddled yourself with," Tank told her, then looked in the rear view mirror to a man being mature and flipping him off. "Then again Christy you may have at least one man child at home if you factor in Les' maturity level."

Tank pulled in the garage at Christy's house. Everybody exited the SUVs and moved into the house with all the pizzas in hand. Tank decided to mess with Lester for a little while longer. He knew what Les wanted to do as soon as he got home, the men eating at the house would delay that for a while longer.

An impatient Les asked, "Don't you have someplace else to be? Like perhaps running Rangeman."

"It will be fine until we finish lunch. I know I'd like to eat my pizza while it is still hot and I'm sure the others would too," Tank calmly replied while thinking to himself, I'm going to poke the bear while I can.

"You could use Christy's office," Les growled.

"We could have but since we were already parked here, it seemed to work just as well."

Christy and the others were listening to this exchange. It was like the worst kept secret that he and Christy were going to be able to have sex. While Christy turned beet red, and not from embarrassment but, from trying not to laugh out loud at this banter, she failed. Finally unable to contain herself any longer she laughed at the two men who were such close friends. "Looks like you are being blocked again Les," she managed to squeak out as her laughter slowly died.

"Hell yes I am being blocked." I had planned on having you, he stopped and looked at his watch. I had planned on having you on your third orgasm by now he added mumbling under his breath.

Tank busted out laughing while Christy turned beet red. "What are laughing about big man?"

"We all know now that you and Steph have something in common," Tank replied.

"And that would be asshole?" Lester shook his head in disgust while Tank's body shook from laughter.

"You talk to yourself, third orgasm," Tank told Les.

Les looked a Christy who was beet red from the comment and back at Tank, "I said that out loud?"

While Tank laughed at Lester, he shook his head yes. Les had the good graces to blush at the embarrassment he caused Christy and mouthed sorry to her. The smile she gave back to him let him know they were alright.

After the men had enjoyed their lunch they left, leaving the couple alone in the house. Lester bitched that he knew Tank was savoring his pizza since it took him almost twice as long to eat as it normally did when they were at Shorty's. "Baby it sounds like you might need some stress relief, would you like for me to help?"

A few hours, and several orgasms later, Lester was stress free.


	35. Chapter 35

**Not mine. Thank you to Olivia for your suggestions and to MyMerryMen for getting it right for Les.**

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 35

Ranger and Manny met with Bobby and Hector at the abandon cabin on the outskirts of town. It had been decided that in lieu of money, Bobby would accept food for the medical care, so far it had worked well. Several of his patients were glad for the exchange as many were poor farmers in that village.

Several days had passed, Ranger and Manny were learning the routines of everybody around the compound. Around 1600 hours every day the cartel members sparred, so far they had noticed they used knives, maybe Manny or Ranger wouldn't have to intentionally hurt one of the cartel. They would do it themselves while working out.

Bobby and Hector reported the things they had seen in the village. The cartel moved freely through the town and gave the villagers clothing and occasionally money in exchange for information. One villager Hector spoke with told him they had been asking about the doctor and if there was anybody else with him besides his assistant. The villager told him no there wasn't, but clued Hector in, "I have seen you talking to the other two men, but we are so grateful to have medicine, my friend Simi who was attacked by the boar would have died before the doctor came. So I say nothing about the men. Are they here to rid us of the cartel?"

Hector in his usual silence didn't say much, "We were glad to help, Simi is doing better now, Si?"

The villager nodded that he was, "He will be in soon for a check up." He wisely let it go about the cartel. The villager knew the truth about Ranger and Manny, they were there to help.

The old man reflected that his village only had eighty people total while poor they made it on their own before the cartel. When the cartel came they took over the village and no longer were the villagers able to move as freely as they once had. The younger girls were kidnapped and force into a life of prostitution in the larger cities. Men were often killed for no reason or forced to work for the cartel as guards. They had a market where they traded goods and food for items they needed before the cartel, now they had to be careful when they traded. Widows and the elderly were taken care of by the younger generations and shown the respect they deserved. In their village no one went without, so while poor they were rich. Sadly all of that had changed since the cartel took control. Silently he prayed for these men who had come to his village and thanked the spirits. Before departing from Hector's company he invited him and Bobby to dinner the next evening. Hector accepted, his gut told him this man was on Rangeman's side even if he didn't know what Rangeman was.

At the villager's home the following night, Bobby and Hector were served a good hot meal. While visiting with the old man, he shared his thoughts about how his village had changed over the last several months. "This has always been a good village, we lookout for each other, our younger generations takes care of us who cannot always take care of ourselves. My heart longs to see our peaceful way of life returned. My prayers are with both of you and the two men you meet nightly."

Bobby and Hector felt certain he was the only one they could trust. Before leaving his company, the man gave them two plates to take to Ranger and Manny. "Our guardians need to be cared for, take this food to them. If they come under the cover of darkness, I will provide meals for them on occasion."

They were to meet with Ranger and Manny as soon as they left the villager.

After the meeting concluded, Bobby and Hector returned to the office under the cover of darkness. Ranger and Manny returned back to the compound to continue observing the routine of the cartel and José Sanchez.

Silently, the men made it back to the compound to watch José. His car left with just the driver. It returned forty-five minutes later with someone in the backseat. As the person exited the car they could tell it was a woman. Nicely built, well dressed and looked well cared for. José met her at the door with a warm embrace, it was evident she was either a girlfriend or a very well paid prostitute since she was not dressed like the villagers. Ranger and Manny discovered a location where they could pick up conversations from the courtyard. Although they couldn't hear what the female was saying but José's voice was distinctive and could be heard, occasional laughter from the woman rang out. José was telling her about the workout the men had today and how stupid Mañoso was for thinking he could eliminate José. The woman laughed as Ranger growled at the comment but knew he couldn't let Sanchez in his head if he wanted to be at peak performance later.

Eventually, the couple went inside. From the blueprints Ranger had of the compound he determined they went to the bedroom based on the lights that came on from inside. The guys settled in, Ranger took the first shift watching while Manny slept, later they would change. They wanted to see when she left and who was in the car, this was a possible break they were looking for. Close to dawn, Manny woke Ranger. The car was leaving, in the backseat was a woman and a man but not Sanchez. Ranger decided to resume their surveillance in the woods later in the evening.

Bobby was awakened at dawn to deliver his first child in the village. Silently he thanked his lucky stars he didn't have Cal with him. This was the woman's second child, so she knew a little about what to expect and it was a quick delivery. A little boy. Bobby did everything that was needed to take care of her and ensure she and the baby were doing well before he left. He was compensated with a dozen eggs, milk and a loaf of bread. Hector smiled at the generosity of the people in this village. "Bobby when we leave what are these people going to do for medical care?"

"We will cross that bridge when the time comes because I'm not sure right now. Do you have any ideas?"

"We can search for someone in the village to teach basic first aid What about doctors without borders would they help?"

"Good idea. Maybe after the cartel is eliminated we can get a doctor to come here once a week for a day or two. I'll look into it, but for now we have to focus on this mission," Bobby replied.

As word spread, more and more villagers were coming to see the doctor, as well as from a neighboring village. The people were warming up to the doctor and assistant, they trusted the men and informed them of various details regarding the cartel and who to watch out for. Many thanked Bobby for his help. In less than a month, Bobby was having to order more supplies for the office using the same underground resources and alias he had used before. Villagers began sneaking in the office to point out various cartel members and give names. Bobby and Hector needed to act disinterested as they weren't really too sure who to trust. Through the connections made in the doctor's office two thirds of the men in the cartel were identified.

The nightly meetings continued over the next couple of weeks. Ranger and Manny had been watching the compound regularly. Every other night the woman arrived at the compound and leave at dawn. Ranger asked Bobby to get additional information about Sanchez's woman from one of the villagers who regularly provides intel.

LCLCLCLCLC

Lester's POV

Slowly I woke to my wife snuggled in my arms. The last several hours were amazing. I had finally been released by Doctor Short to resume normal activities and consummate our marriage. I smiled at the thoughts of how yesterday played out, Tank could be an ass and if I had been in his shoes I would have been one too. Once he and the rest of the men left, I didn't waste any time taking Christy to our bedroom. Slowly I undressed her going against every fiber of my being, in reality I wanted to rip the buttons off of her blouse.

With her blouse and bra off my eyes fell to her breasts with the clamps on full display. Remembering what those clamps represented made me even harder if possible, she was ours. I ran my hands over the clamped breasts and lightly tugged at the clamps, I watched as the nipples became even tauter peaks next move would be my lips and tongue following my hands. As I kissed lower on her chest, I took a nipple in my mouth, my tongue teased and toyed with the clamp making her moan. Teeth replaced the tongue and lightly pulled on the clamp. She grasped my head in her arms to keep me from moving away from her while the moaning grew steadily louder.

My hands moved down her body to her jeans where they began the process of unfastening them. I started sliding them over her hips while she kept my head in place on her breasts. As the jeans were sliding down her legs I moved away from her to lead her to the bed once the jeans were off.

She had told Carlos and I her body was to be our safe haven, our sanctuary. I had every intention of being in that safe haven a lot today, tomorrow and always for as long as she would have me. Christy allowed me to position her on the bed the way I wanted her. Diagonally in the large king size bed gave us the most room for me to move between her legs and drink of her juices.

With every passing moment I fell in love with her more, I worshiped her body with kisses and gentle nips before moving to where she really wanted me to be. Her soft moans and giggles told me she was enjoying what my tongue was doing to her clit and my fingers to the split between her legs. It took her a few minutes to get going but once the first orgasm hit, they kept coming out of her. Watching her react to each one was my greatest pleasure for the moment. When her massive orgasm hit I watched in amazement, she was extremely vocal and thrashed around as she went with it and let the orgasm control her. The harder she thrashed the harder I worked my tongue on her clit and my fingers in her pussy. Her orgasm ended as quickly at it started. I let her catch her breath before moving to enter her now soaked pussy with my dick. Oh my she was gorgeous. Once her breathing started getting back to normal she told me she was ready, boy was she ever. I slid into her in one fluid motion... I was in my sanctuary.

For us, I wanted our first time to be the most memorable experience and it was. I was successful at being slow and gentle with her this first time. The love she felt for me reflected in her eyes and in the beautiful barely there smile. I felt myself take her higher and higher in our passion. Each small orgasm showed on her face with her eyes dancing and an occasional soft giggle.

Not wanting to crush her, I was holding my weight on my arms but she wasn't having that. She wanted me closer and succeeded when she wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my shoulders pulling me down on her. When we were finally skin to skin I heard her whisper "I love you, Lester" and I couldn't help the wave of emotions washing over me. She had pledged her love to me before but hearing it in the throws of our love making was nearly overwhelming.

Another thought I had was that the rest of our day would be just as wonderful, I wasn't disappointed. We took a short nap before making love again. I let her call the shots on this round. With Christy on her hands and knees she asked for hard and rough. "Thoroughly pound me, no mercy please," were her desperate cries. The pace I sat wasn't going to allow me to last as long as I wanted especially when her walls clamped down on me. She pulled me along with her over the edge. I went with it.

Her appetite for sex was high, it needed to be if she was going to be with Carlos and I, since we both had high sex drives. Ten minutes later she was ready to go again my recuperation was a few minutes longer. But she helped me along about the time her lips and tongue touched my dick. She was outstanding in the oral department. I have had my share of blow jobs in my life, but this one was unbelievable maybe it was because it was coming from the woman I'm head over heels about or maybe it was because she volunteered without being asked. I don't know. The only thing I knew, I took it like a man. I will never question her abilities in the oral department.

Waking up with her in my arms is something, I will never get tired of. She's an absolute bear to wake up when she's not ready so I had to be gentle. She began to stir just as I began kissing her neck, I've learned over the last few weeks that she enjoys me kissing her neck. I prefer her purring rather than growls and this morning her purrs were sultry.

###########

Back in Colombia, Ranger and Manny had returned to the shack to get some much needed rest. They had spent the last few nights watching the compound, it was the weakest time on security. The two men were trying to formulate a plan to get in and out as quickly and quietly as possible.

The immediate need was to disable the flood lights on the perimeter, once it was done, scale the fence. Recognizing the bedroom would be the weakest point for security. According to the blueprints of the house the bedroom was fairly isolated from the rest of the house, Ranger and Manny wouldn't have too much of a problem breaching it.

As Ranger stretched out to take a nap he thought back on the conversation with Bobby. He told them the night before none of the villagers knew anything about the woman visiting Sanchez since she was not from the village. Either she was from a neighboring village or prostitute, most likely prostitute.

Manny was going to stand guard while Ranger slept. During his watch he thought of Stephanie and wondered how she was doing at Rangeman hoping she was still living in his house still and not having to return to Rangeman. He loved the idea of her sleeping in his bed and dreaming of him. Thoughts of Stephanie had his cargos fitting tight, damn that woman.

Ranger woke up four hours later. He told Manny to get some shut eye taking his turn at watch. Activity on the compound was very minimal giving Ranger the opportunity to concentrate the blueprints closer. Their previous assessment of the bedroom being the most vulnerable proved to be on point in the fact that it was the most vulnerable. The bedroom was going to be their point of entry.


	36. Chapter 36

I apologize for this story not being finished but my heart wasn't in it. This story was not written originally this way and I got to the point I was not happy or pleased with it at all. I re-read the story itself and all the wonderful reviews. I knew then I had to finish it. Have I been writing? Yes, but I couldn't get anywhere on any of them. Maybe now I can. The story is finished and I will post weekly until it is done. For those of you still hanging with me, thank you. I haven't decided if I will re-do this story the way I originally had written it, if so, I will post it on another site. If people want to read the other version, let me know, give me feedback please. It is written just not typed up. From here on, Rainbow and I have decided to get an entire story done first before posting the first chapter. I don't like the pressure I have put on myself to complete the story. Rainbow, thank you for your help and staying with me through everything, story and personal crap. Without further ado, here it is...

**If it is familiar, they are not mine. Christy, and the body shop crew are mine. So are the mistakes. **

Starting over after Failure

Chapter 36

In Trenton the big day had arrived, time to draw for the '67 Impala. Over ten thousand tickets had been sold at twenty dollars a pop. More than two hundred thousand dollars had been raised for the animal shelter and Trenton PD. The hundred thousand the police department would receive would more than pay for the body cameras, the balance they were going to use to start upgrading the vests for officers.

For the shelter, it meant no animals would have to be euthanized unless they were deemed too sick for the next year.

Rangeman and the body shop had agreed to add a hundred thousand dollars each, bringing the totals up to two hundred thousand for each organization. It was a huge surprise for each one. Chief Juniak had the honor of drawing the winning ticket. When he read the name of the winner everybody cheered.

"Eddie Gazzara."

Christy's POV

I was thrilled when I heard Eddie's name called out as the winner of the car. He had been to the shop several times when we had problems with Derrick and all the other issues going on. I thought he was a good cop and a great person. Steph had told me he was married to her cousin and was a wonderful man. Eddie had helped her out several times when her cars blew up and Morelli was screaming at her about being a fuck up.

Fortunately for Steph, Morelli moved to Chicago to take a detective position. From what I gathered, Morelli was a first class ass, it was in Steph's best interest that he was gone. Truth be told, it was probably Trenton's best interest he was gone. When I learned about Joe being gone, I suspected Carlos had something to do with it, still wouldn't surprise me, I knew he cared for Stephanie a lot.

Eddie followed me to the office to fill out the paperwork on the Impala. He was excited and like a kid at Christmas. As we walked past Carlos' Porsche Eddie asked, "How is Ranger's car coming along?"

"It is finished and just waiting on its owner to get back from whatever hell hole he is in currently."

"I'm sorry it got shot up along with Les. I guess you have it good as new.?"

"Better than new. It will go one-eighty without nitro. I won't have either one of them getting hurt again."

"The PD won't be able to catch it."

"As long as you are not trying to kill either one of them you won't need to catch it. And we know the police won't be trying to kill them. Let's get that paperwork done so you can enjoy your new car."

CLCLCLCLCLCL

When the paperwork was finished, they returned to the festivities. Scarlet had helped Christy by arranging for a live band to perform. The group played a lot of 'beach music', the Beach Boys music abounded.

Eric and Dale had put together a classic car cruise-in. The turn out for it was great, cars from the twenties, thirties, up through brand new came out to participate in the event, in total two hundred and five cars showed.

Several inquiries were made on some of Christy's cars that were on display and for sale.

The pet adoptions were the biggest success of the whole event. Seventy-five dogs found their 'furever' homes along with forty-eight cats. At the end of the day all of the cages were empty, it gave the staff of the humane society another reason to smile. One lucky tuxedo kitty went home with Tank.

Christy and Les were thrilled with the volunteers who hung around to help with clean up once the festivities were over. To help with refuse, a local trash company donated a dumpster with pick up and removal. There was a couple loads after clean up. A rental company was coming to pick up the tents that had been set up for the animal shelter and police department. The only thing left for them to do was collect the money from the food vendors, who had donated a percentage of profits to be split between the two charities. All in all, the day was a success.

A very tired Les and Christy fell in bed late that night. She snuggled into his side before sleep claimed both quickly.

RJRJRJRJRJRJ

In Colombia, the time had come to finally eliminate José Sanchez and his cartel. The villager who had fed the men at different times over the last few weeks had shown Manny and Ranger an underground entrance into the compound. Two men guarded each end of the tunnel.

The tunnel overall was approximately a half mile in length. The outside guards were villagers that had been forced to help the cartel, but desperately wanted their freedom back. When the crew showed to make entrance to the compound, Ranger told the men, "Leave now, don't look back and alert no one of what is going on if you want to live."

Both men ran from the area, the old man who had helped Ranger, met the running men and escorted them back to town. Cautiously Ranger and the men advanced through the tunnel staying alert for trip wires and other traps. At the other end was another pair of villagers that had been taken captive. Ranger made the same offer to them. Disappearing into the darkness the men ran through the tunnel.

The plan had been to use knives as much as possible to avoid alerting cartel members of the team's presence inside the compound. They were met with little resistance along the way since they knew who most of the captives were. All of them wanted out with their lives. Bobby escorted groups of ten at a time back to the tunnel entrance, allowing them to escape.

Ranger and Manny moved to the bedroom where José would be asleep at this time of night. Outside the bedroom door were two guards. A pair of well placed Chinese throwing stars eliminated them as they slowly slid down the wall courtesy of Hector.

José had a little surprise for Ranger and Manny, two more guards were on the other side of the door. Each guard got a slash in, one for Manny and one on Ranger. Luckily the slashes were on the arm of each man and neither slash hit their gun sides. The guards received their own slashes thanks to Ranger and Manny. Theirs were worse, their wounds were fatal.

José woke when the guards in his room were eliminated. He pulled a gun that had been under his pillow. For once it paid to bring a knife to a gun fight. Before he could fire, a knife lodged itself into his Adam's apple. Hector had struck again.

With the 'head of the snake' cut off, the other members of the cartel were easier to deal with. Several of them voluntarily gave up, allowing themselves to be arrested. Others escaped into the darkness, while a few went out fighting. In the end, the Colombian government cared less about it looking like a rival cartel and more about Sanchez being eliminated.

Slipping out under the cover of darkness, the men went to the clinic. Bobby took care of Ranger's and Manny's arms, each of them needed about ten stitches. Both men would be on a round of antibiotics as a precaution. In the morning, la policía would have gone after concluding their investigation, not that much investigation would have taken place. The plan had been to take a few villagers at a time to the compound to retrieve their belonging taken by the cartel.

Ranger and Manny got some much needed quality rest while Bobby and Hector treated villagers who came in the clinic. It was needed to keep up appearances in case they were still being watched by any possible rival cartels.

Later in the day, they began taking the villagers to the compound. Many found items that were of no value to outsiders, but were sentimental to them. There were pictures of the villagers that had been taken when the cartel was forming in the area. Young girls and the men were who most of the pictures consisted of. Sadly, the girls were probably gone for good since nobody really knew where they had been taken.

The team remained in Colombia for two more weeks after the killing of José. During that time Bobby arranged for 'Doctors without Borders' to come in and help the village. They would over see training for a couple of people to be able to do first aid in an emergency.

Finally it was time for the team to return stateside, none to soon as far as they were concerned.

Upon arrival they were whisked away for debriefings. It wasn't until the following week they were able to make contact with their loved ones.

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Christy's POV

I was sitting in my office working on payroll with Les when my phone rang. "Hello."

"How is the most beautiful woman in the world doing?"

"CARLOS!"

"I am stateside, unfortunately I do not know when I will get to come home. We are in meetings again."

Lester's face broke out with a huge smile, just before he did a fist pump in the air. I quickly put the phone on speaker. "Les is here with me and I put you on speaker."

"You taking care of our woman, primo?"

"On every level I am. When is your ugly ass going to be home?"

"Next week sometime I do not have an exact day. They are busting our chops over this whole mission. It was FUBARED from the start."

"God I've missed your voice. Are you okay?" I asked him.

"A little banged up, but overall, I am okay. I have missed more than just your voice, my hand was not the same as much as I tried to imagine it as yours... it was a little to big," he quipped back.

"Well, I've missed more than your voice too but Les was an okay substitute."

"I'll remember that later when you want some," Les groused.

"I gotta go, but I should have more time now to call. I love you Precious."

"I love you too."

After I hung the phone up, I looked at Les before cheering that Carlos was home safe. "I think we need to celebrate. Let me call Steph."

Steph wanted to do some retail therapy... yuck. I'm not much of a shopper, I prefer to get it and get out but I went anyway. Some new lingerie for Carlos would be nice. Les went to chaperon us, translation, carry our bags. We had a wonderful time. At Victoria's Secret, Les picked out something he would like for me to wear for him. It was cute and who was I to say no to that man. Then he picked out something he said Carlos would like, I agreed.

He said Carlos would like a lacy teddy with a 'v' neck that went to my belly button, with a thong style bottom, and basically a 't' shape in the back. I got it in black. Les wanted me to wear a 't' backed babydoll with a matching 'g' string. I went with purple on that one. In either outfit I felt sexy and knew I would be appreciated.

We returned home after grabbing a sub sandwich in the mall. The animals had been taken care of for the evening and I anxiously awaited a call from Carlos.

Around 8PM that call came. "Hey sexy man," I said as I answered the phone.

I kept it off of speaker so he and I could have a few minutes of alone time so to speak. The dirty talk that came from him had my juices flowing. Had he been home I would have thrown him on the bed and had my way with him, instead Les would get that benefit later. I know, I can't throw him on the bed, but he would go with it.

After he had me tore up, he asked to speak with both Les and I. "We need to plan a memorial service for Rich. He does not have any family that I know of but he should still be respected."

"Are you sure about this Carlos? He did after all betray you and the team," I pointed out.

"Let's just keep it small mainly so Rangeman can have closure," Les suggested.

The three of us agreed and Les said he would handle the arrangements. We talked about the three of us going on a honeymoon and where. I'm not a big traveler so Point Pleasant was fine by me and I promised them I would not go to any car auctions.

Carlos confirmed that I would be getting up at 0600 and told me he would call then before we disconnected. When we got off the phone, I showed Les what Carlos had done to me. He was a happy man.

LCCLCCLCCLCC

Between that night and his return home, Carlos called at 0600 and 2000 hours to talk for a little while.

Les made arrangements the next day for a memorial service for Rich upon Ranger and the rest of the teams return. It turned out his parents were deceased and was buried in the Dallas, Texas area. Since there wasn't a body to bury, Les made arrangements for a plaque to be placed on the headstone for Rich's parents. His name, date of birth, and death would be engraved on it, then at least an acknowledgment for his life would be present somewhere.

Finally the men returned home on Wednesday of the following week. They held a private memorial service for Rich at the office. Ranger spoke briefly along with a couple of the others who had spent some time with Rich. Nobody mentioned he had betrayed the men on the mission. Ranger wanted to remember the man Rich had been when they served together. Per Rich's request his clothes and personal effects were donated to a local church to help the homeless. His car would be sold and the cash given to the same church to help with the soup kitchen.

After the service, Ranger spent a couple days alone in the penthouse before he felt ready to see Christy. On Friday night, Shorty's had been rented out by Rangeman and the body shop. Christy was finally going to see Carlos.


	37. Chapter 37

**Not mine. Thank you Rainbow for catching my mistakes. **

**Warnings: Some Smut**

Starting over After Failure

Chapter 37

Christy and Steph went early to Shorty's to hang a welcome home banner along with streamers. "What do you have planned for Manny tonight?" Christy asked as they worked.

"I am going to wear his ass out. The shower massager broke the other day and I don't have my 'lady workhorse' any longer," Steph admitted. "What about you?"

"I have fond memories of this place and the corner booth. Personally, I wouldn't mind a repeat. At least this time Lula won't interrupt us."

"You... you fucked him here? When I returned... that is what you and Ranger were doing in the corner?"

"Uh, yeah. It was a turn on. Nobody said anything except Les and he offered to take over."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Well that doesn't surprise me. Les is always ready to volunteer for things like that, it is his kind of mission. Weren't you afraid of getting caught?"

"Yeah, I was. He, however, was not and said nobody would judge us or say the first word. I guess because of who he is."

"Okay, this is so out of the norm for me, tell me a few of the details. I know he wouldn't do anything to embarrass you, so how did you manage to keep it 'private'."

"We moved very slowly. You remember I was straddling his lap, he slid my shorts over, plus I was commando and you can figure out the rest. Basketball shorts worked really well for him, easy to slide down. You should try it with Manny."

"I can't do that. My mother would have a heart attack not to mention drowning in Jack Daniels. It does sound hot though."

"If you want to bad enough you can. Your mother isn't going to be here and considering what I have heard about her, the guys aren't going to exactly be running to her to spill the beans. Just get your own corner and condoms."

"I don't need condoms. I'm taking a shot for birth control."

"Less mess."

Both women let the current conversation drop and finished decorating the restaurant. It was twenty minutes until the first guests were expected to arrive before they finished. They wanted the lights lowered in the room so they placed candles around the room on the tables and moved a bunch of tables to create a dance floor. For music they had set up their own sound system and had a bunch of different songs lined up. They had spent several hours sorting through the music they wanted to hear, everything from slow songs to pumping beats were ready to go.

The first person through the door was Ella, she brought a sheet cake for them to have if anybody wanted it. Stephanie volunteered to take it off of her hands.

"Ella are you and Luis staying?" Steph asked.

"No Luis isn't feeling well, his allergies have gotten the best of him. Carlos knows, I told him earlier."

Both ladies told Ella they hoped Luis was better soon. Ella gave both women a hug before she left.

The next person to show up was Scarlet. "I'm not here as a reporter, just as Bones' girlfriend."

Over the course of the next few minutes many of the guys started filtering in, pitchers of beer, soda and tea were lined up on a few of the tables that had been shoved against the wall along with the cake and snacks. They had decided that a buffet would be the best way to handle everybody.

Christy had put her purse at the same corner table she and Carlos had shared all those months ago so nobody would sit there. She noticed Stephanie had done the same thing in the opposite corner.

"Feeling brave?" she asked.

"Maybe. Manny loves surprises."

"Have you seen Manny since he has been home?"

"Nope, it is not uncommon for the guys to stay away a few days upon returning. They have to decompress some. It is very common for Ranger."

"Les told me Carlos was safe to be around now. I can't wait to see him."

A few minutes later in walked the objects of their affections. Manny, Carlos and Les came in the door. Christy ran to Carlos and jumped in his arms. She noticed he was a little thinner and might have lost some muscle mass, but overall he looked edible. He held her as she peppered his face with kisses. The smile on his face told the story, he was glad to be home. Not letting her out of his arms, he walked them to the booth in the back corner where her purse was laying.

"I have been dreaming of this for days. I've missed you so much," he told her while fondling her breasts.

"Please let me hold you for a few minutes," Christy replied as she repositioned her arms around him.

He gave in and wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer if possible. Her scent filled his nostrils making him more content. "I want to fuck you so bad right now."

She wiggled in his lap feeling his rock hard cock straining against the thin layers of cloth separating the two. A sharp intake of air drew her attention to the fact she was playing with fire.

Carlos' POV

Feeling Christy in my arms made the last few months worthwhile. I was going to have a few days alone with her at the house. Les had agreed to stay at Rangeman on seven so we could have the time.

The party she and Steph had organized was great. We have never had a welcome home like it. I mean we, the core team, have gone out for a celebratory lunch but never an all out party. It meant a lot that her crew from the shop came out in support.

I had read online a few of the articles that were published about incidents around the shop. The raffle for the car was ingenious. I was glad Tank had taken the initiative to contribute the extra hundred 'k' towards the PD. Anytime Rangeman could be in the spotlight for something positive it was a good thing.

The music changed to a song that Christy and I had often danced to at home, Melissa Etheridge's 'I'm The Only One'. As we danced, I listened to the words of the song again. I knew I'd walk across the fire for Christy and I had plenty of demons to hide from too.

Watching Christy's face I knew Les and I were lucky SOB's. When the song ended we went back to our corner of the room. Once situated, I looked around the dimly lit room and noticed a couple over in the other corner. I surmised they were doing what Christy and I had planned on later.

I pointed to Manny and Steph in the other corner so Christy would see before nibbling on her ear, "Watching them, does it make you hot?"

An evil grin breached her lips, "We talked earlier. She wanted to surprise him when she learned you and I had done that before you left."

I was ready to don a condom and have a round here with my wife when Les interrupted. "Take our woman home. Tank and I are going to clean up then go to Rangeman."

Not being one to argue, I scooped my woman up and headed to the door. Getting home became the number one priority.

Steph's POV

The little denim skirt I had worn this evening barely covered my ass, but I knew it was one of Manny's favorites. Before he showed up this evening, I called him and asked him to wear basketball shorts. After much questioning, he finally agreed.

I slipped in the men's room before anyone arrived and bought two condoms after I decided Christy's suggestion was valid. We didn't need a mess. The thong I had on was history as I dwelt on what I was about to do in a very public place. Hopefully we could get away with it like Ranger and Christy had.

God if my mother ever found out, I'd never get pineapple upside down cake again. The thought of that almost made me chicken out... almost.

After Manny and I had danced and eaten some pizza we migrated to our own little corner that had very little light. A genius plan on my part. "Would you like to explain to me why I'm wearing basketball shorts instead of jeans?"

Instead of using words, I let actions speak louder. I moved his hand to the folds between my legs. "Oh, you are commando." My hand slipped inside his shorts to grasp his rapidly growing cock, while the other hand held up a condom. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

I never replied as I tore the condom wrapper open with my teeth. "Oh, hell yeah," came from the man who was about to have a wet and willing pussy wrapped around his rock hard cock.

I moaned at the loss of his hand as he slipped his fingers out of me to roll on the condom. The juices that remained on his fingers he used to coat the rubber once it was in place before sliding into my body.

As he filled me a had a small orgasm. I had missed feeling him inside me stretching me with that cock. "What made you decide to do this?"

"Remember when we first got back from California, we met the gang here?" Manny nodded yes. "Ranger and Christy were over in their corner doing this. I wanted to be brave and surprise you."

"You did well. If you want spend more time with her and learn as much as possible or get new ideas, I'm all for it. Anytime you feel and orgasm coming, kiss me and scream in my mouth if you need to."

Hum... maybe he had a great idea. Christy wasn't afraid of much. We slowly rocked our bodies together with him doing most of the movement. The slow thrust from him under me, kept me on the edge but never sent me over. I felt him starting to tense before his release. "Christy is so right on this."

The smile on his face told me he agreed. We wrapped the used condom in a napkin before I slipped off his lap. What impressed me the most, nobody paid attention to us except Ranger and Christy before they left. Someone else had to have noticed.

When I returned to the table, Manny asked, "Are you okay with what we did?"

I told him of my observations. "Sweetheart, nobody is going to say a word to us tonight. There may be a party going on here, but they know we are having our own private welcome home party. Get back in my lap."

With zero objections, I straddled his lap again and slid down over his rock hard cock. This time was just as pleasurable. The slow thrust, gentle caresses and kisses from Manny proved how much he was enjoying this little encounter.

A text on Manny's phone from Les interrupted us. 'Go home, Tank &amp; I will do clean up. We don't want 2 c either 1 o days. Both of u OFFLINE.' After three hard thrusts Manny unloaded again.

"Let's do as we were ordered by the core team and go home," Manny instructed.

Hey, who was I to argue. I was going to have three days of getting laid and orgasms. I just needed to remember to get cake. Ella's cakes were better than my mom's, with no guilt attached to them.

Christy's POV

Carlos carried me in the door when we arrived home. I asked him to give me five minutes in the bedroom alone before he came in. He had a questioning look when he set me down. "Trust me it will be worth it," I told him.

I slipped in the bedroom and got my new teddy before going to the bathroom to complete my nightly rituals. The door to the bedroom creaked, I knew then he had entered the room. "Your five minutes are up." I heard him joke.

"Dim the lights and sit on the bed."

It took me a couple more minutes to finish in the bath before coming back to the bedroom. As I went to exit the bathroom, I slid one bare leg out the opening in the door then ran my hand up that leg before stepping on out.

The smile he was sporting was a very welcome sight. He made a motion for me to spin around. I did, slowly, allowing him to drink in the vision of his wife. Little did I realize as I was slowly turning he was climbing off the bed and making his way to me.

It was his touch that alerted me to his presence. His rough hands made their way down my arms and back up before moving onto my torso. He massaged my breasts with both hands before abandoning one to move on down onto my stomach. "How did you know I would love this teddy?"

"Les picked it out. We agreed that you would love it."

"For a dumb-ass he can make good choices at times. Now let's see if I can carefully remove it so we can have it for later."

He took his time removing the barely there lingerie, moving like he was savoring the task at hand. We had all night and I would let him move at whatever pace he chose. It took him longer to take it off of me than it took me to put it on, with the addition of him kissing and caressing me. I think his plan had become to make me crazy with need, if it was, the plan was working.

Standing stock still, he waited while I undressed him. I kissed a few new scars and savored his body. Yeah, he had lost some weight, probably a good thirty pounds if I had to guess.

"I need you Carlos."

"What do you need from me querida?"

"I need you to make love to me."

He gently laid me on the bed before positioning himself over me. The intensity in his eyes showed me how much he loved and wanted me. There was no resistance left in my body when he started sliding into my slick, waiting folds. While we may have played around at Shorty's, this was what we were wanting. Our joining was sensual, certainly two lovers being reacquainted, enjoying the intimate bond that can only be done by two people in love.

Slow and pleasurable were the words for the night. Most of our 'joinings' were slow and extremely pleasurable for both of us. Don't get me wrong we had a couple round that were animalistic couplings. During those rounds we only enjoyed... well all of it. They were rough and resulted in both of us being tired and needing a nap afterwards.

We woke the following morning with Carlos' wood in my back and his right arm thrown over my body. Naturally his hand was cupping my breast. I stayed quiet and hoped he would go back to sleep, no way was I ready to get up. "I know you are not asleep querida."

"Yes I am. I'm not ready to get up. Go back to sleep." The fact I could make a coherent sentence was impressive after last night, never mind three sentences.

I heard chuckling, but he nestled back in to me and cupped the other breast. We woke a couple hours later when Ella brought some food for us to have today.

I slipped a robe on to go meet her. "Hello Ella."

"Good afternoon dear. I thought after last night you might like some help with food."

"Thank you. Ella you are a godsend."

"Sweetie, take care of my 'son'. I need to make a delivery to Stephanie and Manny. For some reason I suspect they are a lot like you and Carlos today." She ran a hand down my cheek and gently smiled at me before leaving.

"Ella before you go. Is there food at the beach house?"

"It is all stocked and ready for you to go."

I had a plan. Wanting to spend time with both of my men was high on my list. Since the beach house is where it all began, it was where I wanted it to continue, plus it would give Carlos a chance to drive his 'new' car.

I called for Carlos to come to the kitchen as I finished making his plate of food. As we ate he asked what I wanted to do the rest of the day.

"I thought we would spend the day here and relax. Then tomorrow, we could take the Porsche and go to the beach house. It will give you a chance to drive it."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Maybe the day after we could have Les come join us.?"

A wicked grin crossed his lips, "Am I not wearing you out?"

"Oh, you are, but I have yet to experience both of my husbands. I'd like to see what I'm missing," for good measure I added an eyebrow waggle when I finished speaking.

After lunch we cuddled on the couch and watched a movie. Okay, he sat there and I snuggled into him. Les, I have learned was my cuddler, he would wrap his body around mine and be as close as possible, whereas Carlos was my snuggler, I could wiggle against him and he would put his arm around me or I would wrap my arms around his and rest my head on the same arm.

I had a few clothes I needed to pack, there was going to be some 'role play' going on at the beach. A couple fantasies that were going to be fulfilled.

The next morning, Carlos got to see his car restored. He was stunned that I hadn't painted it black but instead gone with chameleon. "Why did you go with this color?"

"I have always wanted to paint this color. It is quiet difficult, but gorgeous if done correctly. The color changes from black to purple, then onto green and finally blue, it all depends on the sun and the angle in which you look at it. Please tell me you like it."

"I do. I try to keep a low profile and this color isn't going to help me do that."

"The car itself won't do that any longer. Let's drive it."

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Carlos took a few more minutes looking the car over and watching the colors change. He knew she had spent a fortune on the paint since a pint can cost close to six hundred dollars and he guessed the car took at least three pints. Not to mention what the body shop would typically charge if it wasn't his car. It was sexy and the way the colors changed, it looked like the car was moving even though it wasn't. He decided he liked it.

When he sat down in the drivers seat he took in the other changes to the interior of the car, like the five point harness, the switch for the nitro, and the now black leather seats. All of that he liked. She took a few minutes to tell him some of the changes to the car internally and externally, such as brakes and more horsepower.

"Let's see what it can do," he said.

Bumping the switch, the engine came alive. A huge smile crossed his lips. Carlos was in love with his car.

After ten miles, he knew this car was now an even bigger beast than before. The power it now possessed was amazing. He knew this was not going to be his daily driver any longer and surprisingly, he didn't mind. Christy had built this car with him in mind, it made him love her and the car even more.


	38. Chapter 38

Starting Over after Failure

**Not mine, mistakes and Christy are. Thank you Rainbow for your help.**

This chapter is basically pure smut with a threesome. If that turns you off, stop reading now. The next chapter will be the Epilogue.

Chapter 38

Carlos' POV

We arrived at the beach house quickly. "Damn that car is fast. Precious, I love it. I love everything you did to it. Thank you."

"I'm glad you love it. Les helped a lot, he wanted you to have your car back."

I backed her in the door to the main house after I got her bag out of the trunk, kissing her as I went. We had gotten up showered and drove straight up here. I needed to fuck her and soon. She didn't know it but the power from that car left me hard as a rock.

Finally, I dropped the bag and picked her up to carry her to the bedroom. She was working on unbuttoning my shirt as we went. When we reached the bed, I none too gently threw her on the bed before covering her with my body.

She had on a pair of shorts with a drawstring. I slid my hand down the front of the shorts and pinched her clit. The woman could not get out of her clothes fast enough, neither could I.

When we were both naked, I flipped her over onto her belly then pulled her up on her hands and knees. "This round is going to be hard and rough, because I can't wait." So as not to hurt her, I squirted lube on my dick and her pussy before shoving into her non-stop. Why this felt so good was beyond me, we had been in this position many times before, last night as a matter of fact, but today... it felt better than ever.

I should have never proclaimed to be the master of control, cause this time... it didn't exist. In less than two minutes, I was done with the first round. There were going to be plenty more rounds I knew.

I let her breathing calm back down before I started kissing her all over. "Ready for more?" I asked. The shaking of her head told me she was. "If it gets to be too much, tell me."

I slowly kissed down her body, worshiping the woman I was with. Eventually, I made it back up to settle between her thighs. Even though I had unloaded in her, she deserved oral attention and my own cum didn't bother me. The taste of the two of us blended together was intoxicating. I could feel her first orgasm building. As it did, I slid two fingers in her and concentrated my mouth on her clit. A well placed nip with my teeth did the trick. Her hips bucked up, leaving only her feet and shoulders on the bed. I loved hearing her screams even if this time it wasn't my name, but just screams of pleasure.

As she calmed, I moved to enter her again with my dick. This time I was going to be slow and savor her. I rocked my hips, thrusting fully into her body. Her eyes were open looking at me, her face showed the depth of her love for me. I had worried before I left for the mission she would not want me when I returned, I was wrong. I heard "Harder, please." In response, I thrust more forcefully into her dripping pussy. The cum that was still in there from the first round kept her lubed along with her own juices.

I paused when I felt myself ready to explode, my dick might have been ready, but I was not. To help myself, I lightly pulled my balls back down, I found that sometimes it helped me to go longer, but not always.

We had never really used toys, but after that round, I asked her if she would like to try a plug in her ass. She agreed.

"Wow that is tight," she commented.

"Is it too much? I could take it out," I offered.

"No leave it. It makes me feel... full."

"Wait until I slide into your pussy again with it in."

She pulled me down on top of her then wrapped her legs around me. "Fuck me now please."

Who was I to object? I carefully slid in her, watching her face for any indication of discomfort, but saw none. The plug had her pussy much tighter. I gave her a couple minutes to say anything or object, before I started pumping in her.

With the plug in her ass, the orgasms that came out of her body flowed as freely as her juices. She asked for me to go harder, I did, but only a little. Apparently, she did not like the force I was using and began doing her own thrusts onto me.

I lost my legendary control again that time. She had taken control of that round and I lost big time. I did not mind since it showed me what she wanted and how she wanted it.

We stopped fucking and made love a few times. A couple times we stopped to eat, even then we ended up on the dining room table. Well she did those times, while I stood at the table thrusting into her. Our last mating at the table, I bent her over it and took her from behind. I believe that is our favorite position. We can get as hard as we want with each other and neither end up sore from it.

Before we went back to bed we took our cum covered bodies to the shower. As the water sluiced over us I could not resist taking her in the shower. At no time did she tell me 'no', if she had, I would have stopped immediately.

After we got out and dried each other off, we changed the sheets on the bed. We decided to actually sleep for the night, still around 0300 I woke her to make love. I could not wait any longer.

We got up for the day at 0900 and made it out of the bed around noon. Looked like we needed to change the sheets again. We had brunch and went to stroll on the beach before Les arrived later that afternoon.

Christy had mentioned fulfilling a couple fantasies. I will admit I wanted to know what they were but I did not question her on them. If I knew, I would try to take control of them and she seemed set on them going her way. I did not know that would be so hard.

That evening, we heard the garage door going up and Les pulling in. He had traded cars and was driving his new ride. Christy handed me two shirts and ties along with a couple towels. "Take those to the garage, I'll be out in a few. Do. Not. Come. In. This. House."

I did as I was told.

A few minutes later, the door opened and we found out that one of our fantasies was coming true. Christy was dressed as a 'school girl', I was instantly hard. I was really glad she hadn't told me the plan.

"Professor Mañoso! Professor Santos! May I speak with you both?"

"Yes Ms. Maxwell," I replied. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I wanted to talk to you about my grades. Why am I failing 'Sex Ed' and 'Orgasms 101'?"

Les took over, "Well Ms. Maxwell, you have not been 'performing' well in the sex ed classes. You never initiate, you seem to always follow. What do you think Professor of Orgasms?"

"I would have to agree Professor Santos. Ms. Maxwell you never try to get yourself off in my class."

"What can I do to prove that I can do what you are saying? I need to improve my grades."

_Fuck this woman was getting an 'A+' in my book already for this play,_ I thought.

"For starters, I think you should get a spanking. How many licks do you think Professor Mañoso?"

"I would say at least ten licks. Ms. Maxwell if you are serious bend over Professor Santos' lap."

Les had gotten out a couple of the extra chairs we keep on hand when a large group was going to be gathered. Quietly, Christy laid over his lap and waited for instructions.

"You will thank me for each stroke and ask for another, keep track of the count otherwise we will have to start over," Les instructed.

He tried not to smack her ass too hard for fear of hurting her, but it only took a moment for the cheek to start to turn red.

"Thank you Professor, may I have another? One." I knew he would take his time with her, as he did I pulled my dick out and began stroking it.

He smacked her ass again. "Thank you Professor, may I have another? Two." This time he gently rubbed her cheek to soothe the sting.

Les did not keep a rhythm so she could not prepare for the next strike. He made it to nine before I was ready to unload.

"Professor Santos, please allow Ms. Maxwell a moment so I can show her my orgasm in her mouth."

He let her up. She stooped in front of him leaning back against him for balance and took me in her mouth. "That is it Ms. Maxwell, take all of my dick in your mouth." She did as I asked or tried, I knew I was not small by any means, neither was Les. "When I cum, you will swallow it down... understand?" She kept working my dick and did not reply verbally, but her eyes met mine and I could see she did. Another minute later, I shot my load down her throat.

When I had my composure back, I helped her to stand. I had to kiss her, she was doing a great job with our fantasy. "Thank you. But I do not believe Professor Santos is done with you."

Her ass was so red from his spanking, little did she know, I was next.

"How many were we up to Ms. Maxwell?" Les asked her.

"Nine. May I have my last one?"

"Yes you get your last one from me, then Professor Mañoso has his ten to do."

We heard her mumble fuck under her breath. He smacked her for his last time, then soothed both red cheeks.

I made my ten stokes go quicker since there were other things I wanted to do to her body. Les and I looked at each other before turning our attention to our wife.

"Ms. Maxwell, your grade is slowly improving for both classes but there is a long ways to go. How about you.."

She interrupted me, "Spread the towel on the hood of Professor Santos' car."

"That is exactly what I was going to say and then.."

"You both could watch me play with my clit and instruct me on how to do better?"

Christy was doing her best to keep control of this scene and I loved the way it was going.

"Yes, that would work very well. Don't you agree Professor Mañoso?"

"Absolutely, show us."

She stretched across the hood of the car to straighten the towel, it allowed us to see the red tint that still remained on her ass. I could see the glistening of her juices on the inside of her thighs. Les moved to assist her onto the hood of the car. She left her legs dangling over the side of the car for a minute then pulled them up on the fender.

We watched as she slid her hands over her breasts stopping to pinch the nipples and get them taut. Once they were to her satisfaction she moved them down her stomach, upon reaching her pussy she spread her legs to where it was on full display. She let her fingers slowly circle around her nub. Her fingers dipped into her folds coming out covered in her juices, she spread the juices around her nub before pinching it between her index finger and middle finger.

As we continued watching, okay, okay our eyes were glued to her, the Marines could have landed at that point and my primo and I would never have known. It was fucking hot. As we continued watching, she began to writhe on the hood of the car. Her fingers sank repeatedly in her body setting not only her but us on fire.

When her orgasm hit, I had the strong desire to go with her on that journey and began stroking myself in earnest. I went right behind her. Les was after me. FUCK! I am not sure how much more of this I could take. It made twice I got off, without being in her pussy.

Her voice got my attention, "I think for this next portion I should guide you two. Which one of you is first at showing me oral orgasm pleasure?"

Les spoke first, "I believe that would be me. You need sex ed before you can achieve orgasms."

The towel was spread on his new Challenger, she straightened it before getting back on the hood. When she was ready, he rubbed his hands on her body, caressing and stroking her smooth silky skin while throwing in kisses where his hands just left. He settled on her core, lapping the juices that had collected at her entrance. Slipping his fingers in her slick folds he brought her to the edge repeatedly but never let her go over.

He could tell she was needing to finish so could I. "Cum for us," I ordered. She climaxed while screaming his name.

Before she came back down Les slammed his dick in her dripping body. In response Christy wrapped her legs around his waist to hold him tighter to her body. Per our unwritten rule, when he was ready to unload, he pulled out and left it on her breasts.

Christy cleaned herself up afterwards. Then it was my turn to give her oral pleasure. "Are you ready for the Professor of Orgasms?"

She held up a finger to wait a minute. Picking up the other towel she had out here, Christy carefully placed it on the hood of the Porsche. "Now is my turn for a fantasy. After I finished painting the car, I wanted you to fuck me on the hood of it. Would you like to fulfill that?"

"Professor Mañoso at your service."

It was easier for her to get on the hood of the Porsche since it sat lower to the ground. Again like with Les, I waited on her to get in position before I began my oral ministrations on her. It did not take me long to have her flying as the first of three tore from her body. School was in session.

I had her begging for me to stop and just fuck her instead. It made me laugh. My dick had no problems sliding into her and pounding her body. As I thrust into her I thought about the time I had been gone, this was one of the things I had dreamed of. Completing a fantasy of hers had been a goal for me, it was one thing that had kept me going.

I came back to reality as I heard her say, "Harder." Picking up the force of my thrusts, I gladly obliged her. It didn't take long after that for me to know that her ride was about to come to the end. I unloaded in her since we were done with oral for now.

I have changed my mind about the color of the car, I love it. As I was fucking her, I watched it changing colors as the car rocked. Never again will I look at that car the same.

Les and I took turns kissing her as we went in the house. Dios, I love her. However, she was not done with us yet. We had dinner then watched some television. On the couch, she worked her way into Lester's lap and onto his dick. She ordered me to come stand in front of her.

I watched as she lowered the shorts I had on to release my cock. Taking the throbbing member in her small hands she stroked on it and teased the head with her tongue. Slowly, she began taking more of me in her mouth until she reached her maximum. The pleasure Christy gave both of us, had us realizing she was the one in full control today. Personally, I loved it along with her.

I heard Les roaring Christy's name, a short time later it was followed by me doing the same. As for Christy, she just screamed.

Afterwards, we cleaned ourselves up and watched Twister, Christy had picked it out. I did not pay attention to it very much, I'm not sure any of us did. We all seemed to be lost in our thoughts of what had happened and the level our relationship had progressed to. When the movie was over, I carried Christy to bed with Les following.

It was great to be home in bed with our wife. I was looking forward to our many years together that were yet to come.


	39. Chapter 39

**Not mine, they belong to Janet except Christy and other unknown Plum characters. Thank you Rainbow for helping me with this story. I doubt I would have ever finished.**

Starting over after Failure

Epilogue

Christy's POV

Three years later

A lot has happened in those last three years, I petitioned for a name change and had it legally changed to Christina Lauren Santos-Mañoso.

We tried a couple times unsuccessfully for me to have a child, both times I miscarried at four months. It was later determined I couldn't carry a child. We found a surrogate who was willing to carry twins for us. She was implanted with a fertilized egg one from each Lester and Carlos. We had decided to chance it this way. The doctors told us that there needed to be multiple embryos but we opted for just two to be placed. We would have none, one or two. Today we are celebrating their first birthday.

Olivia blessed us with Carlos Mateo Santos-Mañoso and Olivia Michelle Santos-Mañoso. Olivia looked like her daddy, except the blonde hair and somewhat lighter skin; but the chocolate eyes, nose and cheeks gives it away that she was Carlos'. Matt, as we have taken to calling him would be the death of me. He was going to be the devil with those long eye lashes and green eyes that screams Lester and the attitude that went with it. The kid would have girls chasing him when he got older.

To help me care for both kids the guys have taken to working opposite of each other. Lester was working three nights a week and Carlos was working three nights. At least one of them was at home with me.

I have turned over the reins of the shop to Eric, he has kept it to my standards which makes me glad. He and Lisa are expecting their first child in December and are excited, they found out they are having a girl. Heaven help them if she was like her mom, Eric will have his hands full.

Stephanie and Manny had two kids of their own. Mark Allen was the oldest at two and named after Manny's dad. The youngest was Francis Alexander named after Stephanie's father. She said she would like to have a third and hopefully that one would be a girl. I asked her if she could handle one like herself, I think she changed her mind.

Rangeman opened two more offices, the one in DC that got Carlos into the mess we all endured three plus years ago along with a branch in Houston, Texas that I helped him fund when he said something about taking another assignment. That was our biggest fight to date and not a pretty one either. Apparently I won, he didn't go on another mission and has not mentioned going on one since. Lester said he would go on one, I put a stop to that when I held up his son.

The Houston office has been open for six months and was putting record numbers in the books. Woody moved to that office to run it and took Olivia with him. They are planning on getting married probably within the next year. They make a beautiful couple. Their story was a funny one, he met her while she was in her eighth month carrying my kids. She was out running errands when her water broke. The closest place for her was Rangeman, she parked on the street and walked in the building. Woody was working the front desk and asked to help her. This was the conversation that transpired between them:

***Flashback***

"Tell Carlos it is time. His kids are coming."

Woody had no idea who she was, he had been going back and forth between Trenton and Houston therefore was out of the loop on the goings on of Trenton. Olivia told me later his dumbfounded look was priceless.

"Ma'am, Mr. Mañoso's wife will not appreciate this joke."

"Mrs. Santos-Mañoso will not appreciate her kids being born in the lobby of Rangeman either. Get me either Lester or Carlos now."

Finally Woody called Lester, totally the wrong one to have called. Apparently Lester was screaming in the phone about Olivia not having the kids here Cal couldn't take it. A cooler head prevailed and Carlos called 911.

Upon arrival at the hospital Olivia was taken straight up to Labor and Delivery. When she went into labor, she didn't dilly dally around. In less than four hours both of our children had been born.

Woody came to the hospital after his shift and was properly introduced to Olivia Tolbert. They have been inseparable ever since.

***End Flashback***

Overall, life has been wonderful. I have two men that I love and adore and they love me. We have successful businesses that for the most part now run themselves. The three of us can slow down and focus on each other and our children. I wouldn't change it for the world, for us, this is the world.


End file.
